"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” 

—Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery: An Autobiography

"Life, above all, can be as kind and beautiful to you as you let it be."

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Fire on the Water

He said that those who have endured some misfortune will always be set apart but that it is just that misfortune which is their gift and which is their strength. 

 

—Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

"It’s fair to say that what happened was something only a miracle could let me escape."

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 Fire on the Water