Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. She experienced considerable hardship during her childhood, claiming to be raped at age nine and becoming pregnant at 14; her son died in infancy. Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.

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

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

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

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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.

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

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

14. 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.

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

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

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

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.

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

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

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

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

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

27. 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.

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

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

30. Turn your wounds into wisdom.

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

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

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

34. 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.

35. Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.

36. You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once.

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

38. I trust that everything happens for a reason, even if we are not wise enough to see it.

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

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

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

42. I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.

43. You get to know who you really are in a crisis.

44. Your true passion should feel like breathing; it’s that natural.

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

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

47. 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.

48. Self-esteem comes from being able to define the world in your own terms and refusing to abide by the judgments of others.

49. If you want your life to be more rewarding, you have to change the way you think.

50. You look at yourself and you accept yourself for who you are, and once you accept yourself for who you are you become a better person.

51. The big secret in life is there is no secret. Whatever your goal. You can get there if you’re willing to work.

52. I am grateful for the blessings of wealth, but it hasn’t changed who I am. My feet are still on the ground. I’m just wearing better shoes.

53. You are where you are in life because of what you believe is possible for yourself.

54. Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.

55. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you – always.