“It always seems impossible until it's done.” — Nelson Mandela · widely attributed, various speeches post-1990
“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” — Confucius · attributed to Confucius, various collections
“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move.” — Jesus of Nazareth · Matthew 17:20, New International Version
“One day our descendants will think it incredible that we paid so much attention to things like the amount of melanin in our skin or the shape of our eyes or our gender instead of the unique identities of each of us as complex human beings.” — Franklin A. Thomas · widely attributed to Franklin A. Thomas, former president of the Ford Foundation
“You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies, you may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I'll rise.” — Maya Angelou · "Still I Rise," And Still I Rise, 1978
“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.” — Langston Hughes · "Dreams," 1922
“I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all.” — Zora Neale Hurston · "How It Feels to Be Colored Me," World Tomorrow, 1928