It is worth remembering that the time of greatest gain in terms of wisdom and inner strength is often that of greatest difficulty.

Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin. Now, they are so subtle, they can milk you with two notes. They can make you feel like they told you the whole universe. But I don't know that yet. All I got now is strength. Maybe if I keep singing, maybe I'll get it.

When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways-either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.

What I know for sure is that there is no strength without challenge, adversity, resistance, and often pain.

I've learned to rely on the strength I inherited from all those who came before me-the grandmothers, sisters, aunts, and brothers who were tested with unimaginable hardships and still survived.

Now we are the masters of our fate, that the task which has been set us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our cause and an unconquerable willpower, salvation will not be denied us.