Ray Charles Quotes

Blind don't mean you can't, you know, listen.

I was raised by a single black deaf woman, so I am as independent as they come.

Most of my younger Native American friends are not in any way looking for sympathy, and they're not looking to lay guilt on anybody. They have their dignity, and they do what they do.

My mom had not worked a day in her life, and then she woke up when I was 15 and found herself with four children, no job, no money. But she set out and made it all OK for us, and from that, I saw that there's no problem that can't be solved.

I have understood by observing blind people that they are very confident. They don't see themselves as suffering from a disability.

I have learned not to overlook the advantages of being me. From when I was a softball player, and I held the stolen bases record. I would slide into second with my prostheses, and the girl on the base could either step aside or meet two wooden sticks.

I recently saw the movie about Ray Charles, and there's a scene where he falls down and the mother doesn't help him. She says, I don't want anyone to treat you like a cripple. I've fallen down before, and Molly will say, get up and just go.

I ventured into fiction in 1988 with 'What Love Sees,' a biographical novel of a woman's unwavering determination to lead a full life despite blindness.

People ask me how I manage without a man in the same tone they might ask someone how they're doing with just one lung, but it's not like that at all.

Single motherhood is an amazing thing; it's a blessing.

If you're an underdog, mentally disabled, physically disabled, if you don't fit in, if you're not as pretty as the others, you can still be a hero.

I'm just totally into being strong. There's something about wanting to get a jar or whatever out of a high cupboard, or moving a sofa over because my dog's bone rolled under it, and not having to call anyone for help. There's comfort in that.

My father left... but I tell my mom - and I told my mom this when I was a kid - I said, 'You know what, Mom? Good thing he left because you're a strong woman.'

If we see someone in a wheelchair, we assume they cannot walk. It may be that they can walk three, four, five steps. That, to them, means they can walk.

I have based my life on being strong enough to do anything.

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.

When I was a child, kids used to make fun of me because I was blind. But I just became more curious, 'How can I climb this tree and get an apple for this girl?' That's what mattered to me.

We can and we will solve our problems for ourselves. We know how. We can, and we will.

I can look after myself and my own.

I can take care of myself.

I wanted my kids to be able to look at their mom and be like, 'She can take care of herself.'

I just want to be able to do it all just because that's what life is.

I take pleasure in discovering resourcefulness inside me.

I have immense respect for anyone with a physical deformity and the courage and confidence it takes just to go out in the world.

I know lots of friends who grew up without fathers and it actually makes you stronger. You have more to prove, you have to protect yourself.