Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm.

I want to make this world perfect.

Who would have thought that a tap-dancing penguin would outpoint James Bond at the box office? And deserve to? Not that there's anything wrong with 'Casino Royale.' But 'Happy Feet' - written and directed by George Miller - is a complete charmer, even if, in the way of most family fare, it can't resist straying into the Inspirational.

I don't dislike rappers or hip-hop or people who like it. I went to the Def Jam tour in Manchester in the '80s when rap was inspirational. Public Enemy were awesome. But it's all about status and bling now, and it doesn't say anything to me.

People tell you the world looks a certain way. Parents tell you how to think. Schools tell you how to think. TV. Religion. And then at a certain point, if you're lucky, you realize you can make up your own mind. Nobody sets the rules but you. You can design your own life.

Our time here is magic! It's the only space you have to realize whatever it is that is beautiful, whatever is true, whatever is great, whatever is potential, whatever is rare, whatever is unique, in. It's the only space.

Too low they build, who build beneath the stars.

A lot of straight and transgender boys get in touch with me through my website and social media. They tell me I'm inspirational and beautiful. It boosts my self-esteem.

I have amazing friends who have led inspirational lives.

The MTC is known for singing music by great master composers, hymns, American music, Broadway numbers, popular songs, and inspirational music. If the audience doesn't like one genre, they need only wait for the next number.

It's as if inside the White House the belief in Obama's inspirational charisma is still such that every time the ugliness of brute politics intrudes, it's a startling revelation.

Half a century ago, the amazing courage of Rosa Parks, the visionary leadership of Martin Luther King, and the inspirational actions of the civil rights movement led politicians to write equality into the law and make real the promise of America for all her citizens.

I believe in the city as a natural human environment, but we must humanize it. It's art that will re-define public space in the 21st Century. We can make our cities diverse, inspirational places by putting art, dance and performance in all its forms into the matrix of street life.

I wrote '('Til) I Kissed You' about a girl I met in Australia. Her name was Lilian, and she was very, very inspirational. I was married, but... I wrote the song about her on the way back home.

It is such a luxury to open a new book that's highly recommended by friends - either an inspirational yet humorously self-deprecating memoir, or a page-turning piece of fiction.

I want to be motivational and inspirational for everybody: my big aim is more women on bicycles.

What's on my playlist when I'm fighting is not so much hip-hop. Sometimes, it's something more inspirational. I get a chance to think about what I'm fighting for, like, my family. It takes me to that state because a lot of times, it's a spiritual warfare for me.

Of all human activities, man's listening to God is the supreme act of his reasoning and will.

Deacon Jones has been the most inspirational person in my football career.

Hope is but the dream of those who wake.

You are always free to change your mind and choose a different future, or a different past.

When deeds speak, words are nothing.

Act like you expect to get into the end zone.

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.

God loves to help him who strives to help himself.

I have looked into your eyes with my eyes. I have put my heart near your heart.

A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil.

If you could only love enough, you could be the most powerful person in the world.

There is a loftier ambition than merely to stand high in the world. It is to stoop down and lift mankind a little higher.

Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.

Brand is not a product, that's for sure; it's not one item. It's an idea, it's a theory, it's a meaning, it's how you carry yourself. It's aspirational, it's inspirational.

Grace is the beauty of form under the influence of freedom.

Men must live and create. Live to the point of tears.

A place for everything, everything in its place.

Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world.

Just as you wouldn't leave the house without taking a shower, you shouldn't start the day without at least 10 minutes of sacred practice: prayer, meditation, inspirational reading.

I love those who yearn for the impossible.

It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.

Every charitable act is a stepping stone toward heaven.

Be not entangled in this world of days and nights; Thou hast another time and space as well.

I pray God may preserve your health and life many years.

The ideal life is in our blood and never will be still.

I arise full of eagerness and energy, knowing well what achievement lies ahead of me.

The only thing that ultimately matters is to eat an ice-cream cone, play a slide trombone, plant a small tree, good God, now you're free.

My goal in my career is to inspire people, is to get my music out there and have people enjoy it, and have people think of me as an inspirational artist.

Like the United Nations, there is something inspirational about New York as a great melting pot of different cultures and traditions. And if this is the city that never sleeps, the United Nations works tirelessly, around the clock around the world.

If someone says 'grunge' or 'punk,' you know what the sound is, but if you say 'No Wave,' it's kind of mysterious. That was the most interesting part and should have been the most inspirational thing about it... here's this collective sonic insanity, and none of it sounds anything alike.

Being appointed as the next Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester is a completely overwhelming honour. This extraordinary orchestra and its wonderful musicians are unique in so many respects, and particularly in their creation of an exceptional sound world based on outstanding tradition that is, at its heart, inspirational.

For a gallant spirit there can never be defeat.

Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that God gives us to control our fears, not to oust them.