Oprah Winfrey

It does not matter how you came into the world what matters is that you are here.

Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.

The more you praise and celebrate your life the more there is in life to celebrate.

The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.

Turn your wounds into wisdom.

The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.

Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.

You don’t become what you want, you become what you believe.

The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work.

True forgiveness is when you can say, “Thank you for that experience.”

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.

She is the mother I never had, she is the sister everybody would want. She is the friend that everybody deserves. I don't know a better person.

When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are.

I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.

Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it.

I trust that everything happens for a reason, even when we’re not wise enough to see it.

With every experience, you alone are painting your own canvas, thought by thought, choice by choice.

One of the hardest things in life to learn are which bridges to cross and which bridges to burn.

Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a new way to stand.

You CAN have it all. You just can't have it all at once.

Every time you state what you want or believe, you're the first to hear it. It's a message to both you and others about what you think is possible. Don't put a ceiling on yourself.

The reason I've been able to be so financially successful is my focus has never, ever for one minute been money.

Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi.

It's much easier for me to make major life multi-million dollar decisions than it is to decide on a carpet for my front porch. That's the truth.

If you want to accomplish the goals of your life you have to begin with the spirit.

I don't believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process.

The struggle of my life created empathy - I could relate to pain, being abandoned, having people not love me.

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.

I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes.

I have a lot of things to prove to myself. One is that I can live my life fearlessly.

I'm black, I don't feel burdened by it and I don't think it's a huge responsibility. It's part of who I am. It does not define me.

I don't think you ever stop giving. I really don't. I think it's an on-going process. And it's not just about being able to write a check. It's being able to touch somebody's life.

I always knew I was destined for greatness.

Where there is no struggle there is no strength.

Real integrity is doing the right thing knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.

Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher.

The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to be.

Unless you choose to do great things with it, it makes no difference how much you are rewarded or how much power you have.

It isn't until you come to a spiritual understanding of who you are - not necessarily a religious feeling, but deep down the spirit within - that you can begin to take control.

I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear.

What I know is is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come.

The thing you fear most has no power. Your fear of it is what has the power. Facing the truth really will set you free.

Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility.

You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job and not be paid for it.

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.

I am a woman in process. I'm just trying like everybody else. I try to take every conflict, every experience, and learn from it. Life is never dull.

I don't think of myself as a poor, deprived ghetto girl who made good. I think of myself as somebody who, from an early age, knew I was responsible for myself and I had to make good.

You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.

The great courageous act that we must all do, is to have the courage to step out of our history and past, so that we can live our dreams.

The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but on significance - and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.

What God intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine.

When I look into the future, it's so bright it burns my eyes.

I had no idea that being your authentic self could make me as rich as I've become. If I had, I'd have done it a lot earlier.

So go ahead. Fall down. The world looks different from the ground.

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.

If you come to fame not understanding who you are, it will define who you are.

Follow your instincts. That's where true wisdom manifests itself.

Be thankful for what you have, you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never ever have enough.

As you become more clear about who you really are, you'll be better able to decide what is best for you - the first time around.

My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.

I remember a specific moment watching my grandmother hang the clothes on the line and her saying to me 'you are going to have to learn to do this', and me being in that space of awareness and knowing that my life would not be the same as my grandmother's life.

What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people's lives.

I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that's how I operate my life.

I'm not even kind of a lesbian.

I'm sick of people sittin' in chairs stating their problems. Then we roll the videotape... then we have our experts on the topic... I'm in the 'What's next?' phase of my career.

Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.

My idea of heaven is a great big baked potato and someone to share it with.

For everyone of us that succeeds, it's because there's somebody there to show you the way out.

Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.

My first day in Chicago, September 4 1983. I set foot in this city and just walking down the street it was like roots, like the motherland. I knew I belonged here.