1. Bill Cosby
“Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it.”
![](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/images/2011/09/972753-bill_cosby.jpg?width=600)
2. Raven Symone
“Don’t spend all of your time trying to be like someone else because you can never be them and they can never be you.
![](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/images/2011/09/972713-raven_symone.jpg?width=600)
3. Jay-Z
“If I was going to be successful, I had to be successful with myself. I couldn’t be successful doing what other people were doing…The worst thing to be is as successful as someone else. That’s a very difficult thing to upkeep and very tiring”
![](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/images/2011/09/972633-jay-z.jpg?width=600)
4. Tyrese
“Life is a menu so remember whoever and whatever you order for your life is what’s gonna be delivered to your table.”
![](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/images/2011/09/972613-tyrese.jpg?width=600)
5. Ruby Dee
“God, make me so uncomfortable that I will do the very thing I fear.”
![](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/images/2011/09/972583-ruby_dee.jpg?width=600)
6. Barack Obama
“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.”
![](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/images/2011/09/972643-barack_obama.jpg?width=600)
7. Beyonce
“Whenever I feel bad, I use that feeling to motivate me to work harder. I only allow myself one day to feel sorry for myself. When I’m not feeling my best I ask myself, ‘What are you gonna do about it?’ I use the negativity to fuel the transformation into a better me.”
![](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/images/2011/09/972603-beyonce.jpg?width=600)
8. Will Smith
“Greatness is not this wonderful, esoteric, elusive, God-like, feature that only the special among us will ever taste. It’s something that truly exists in all of us. It’s very simple. This is what I believe, and I’m willing to die for it.”
![](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/images/2011/09/972673-will_smith.jpg?width=600)
9. Oprah Winfrey
“Failure is a great teacher and, if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer.”
![](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/images/2011/09/972693-oprah_winfrey.jpg?width=600)
10. Michelle Obama
“One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.”
![](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/images/2011/09/973183-michelle_obama.jpg?width=600)