Our fathers fought bravely. But do you know the biggest weapon unleashed by the enemy against them? It was not the Maxim gun. It was division among them. Why? Because a people united in faith are stronger than the bomb.

Life seemed unbearable at times but I adapted the attitude of a 'female warrior'.

I'm not a fool. I'm not capable of being fooled! Not even by a woman.

I will not allow my daughter’s blood to be trampled on.

It is our dreams that point the way to freedom. Those dreams are made realizable through our poems that give us the strength and courage to see, to feel, to speak, and to dare.

They wrote me off, I ain't write back though.

When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.

The distinction between private and public undermines the unity of spiritual strength, draining the public of the transcendent energies while trivializing them because the merely private life provides no proper stage for their action.

[Kneels before the shrine] Lord of the blue sky, great Tengri. I bow before you. Give me the strength.

I felt less alone when I didn't know you yet: I was waiting for the other. I thought only of his strength and never of my weakness. And now here you are, Orestes, it was you. I look at you and I see that we are two orphans.

I felt like I wasn’t going to make it,” she said. “When I thought about my life in front of me, how I’m going to rise up to anything … it was so overwhelming.”

As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed.

I'm all right...I just got the wind knocked out of me, that's all...

I am capable of what every other human is capable of. This is one of the great lessons of war and life.

People thought I was ruthless, which I was. I didn't give a darn who was on the other side of the net. I'd knock you down if you got in my way.

In my strategy, the training for killing enemies is by way of many contests, fighting for survival, discovering the meaning of life and death, learning the Way of the sword, judging the strength of attacks and understanding the Way of the "edge and ridge" of the sword.