“I am here to tell you that there are people who have never been defeated. They are the ones who never fought.”

“Why am I afraid to tell you who I am? I am afraid to tell you who I am, because, if I tell you who I am, you may not like who I am, and it's all that I have…”

John Powell (1645–1713) American Jesuit priest

“I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who struggle to make one small difference after another.”

Ellen Goodman (1941) American journalist and writer

“I am not fighting a hopeless fight. People who have fought in real fights don't, as a rule.”

G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist

“Who made the world I cannot tell;
'Tis made, and here am I in hell.
My hand, though now my knuckles bleed,
I never soiled with such a deed.”

A.E. Housman (1859–1936) English classical scholar and poet

“Thousands of people have been killed by the terrorists and millions have been injured. I am just one of them. So here I stand, one girl among many. I speak not for myself, but so those without a voice can be heard. Those who have fought for their rights. Their right to live in peace. Their right to be treated with dignity. Their right to equality of opportunity. Their right to be educated.”

Malala Yousafzai (1997) Pakistani children's education activist

“Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

“The defeated are those who never fail.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

“I am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day; yes, I'm a-goin for to tell you all, that I'm a plebian! I glory in it; I am a plebian! The people — yes, the people of the United States have made me what I am; and I am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day — yes, to-day, in this place — that the people are everything.”

Andrew Johnson (1808–1875) American politician, 17th president of the United States (in office from 1865 to 1869)

“I have crossed over to a place where I never thought I’d be. I am someone I would have never imagined. A secret. A dream. I am this, body and soul. Burn me. Drown me. Tell me lies. I will still be who I am.”

Alice Hoffman (1952) Novelist, young-adult writer, children's writer