'Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.'

'Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.'

- Judy Garland

A quote by Whitney Houston

"I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside."

A Quote by Sandra Day O'Connor

"Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time."

A quote by Lauren Bacall

"Imagination is the highest kite one can fly."

A quote by Magic Johnson

"Celebrate the life you had, not the life you could've had."

'You will never feel proud of your work if you find no joy within it; your best work is always joyful work.'

- Stevie Wonder (1950-present)

'A good friend is like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have.'

- Irish Proverb

A quote by Lucille Ball

"Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world."

A quote from Van Gogh

"Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful."

'Sometimes opportunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes you can grab it.'

- Actress Julie Andrews (1935 - present)

'We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.'

- Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury

'May your future be limited only by your dreams.'

- Teacher and astronaut Christa McAuliffe (1948-1986)

'Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun.'

- Legendary artist Picasso (1881–1973)

'Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.'

- Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)

'Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them.'

- Artist Salvador Dalí (1904-1989)

'How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.' - Anne Frank

'The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.'

- Poet Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

'What each of us must come to realize is that our intent always comes through.'

- First African American Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993)

'Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.'

- Pablo Picasso

'We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'

- Playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

'Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.'

- Bobby Kennedy

The conditions needed for cloud iridescence, or rainbow clouds

The relatively rare phenomenon occurs when sunlight scatters off tiny water droplets or ice crystals in thin, newly-forming or semi-transparent clouds, such as altocumulus, cirrocumulus, lenticular, and cirrus varieties. This effect is similar to what is seen in soap bubbles and mother-of-pearl shells and produces pastel-like colors.

'Love planted a rose, and the world turned sweet.'

-Author and poet Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929)

'I am a writer who came from a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.'

- American novelist Eudora Welty (1909-2001)

'Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results.'

- Willie Nelson (1933-present)

Maya Angelou's 1993 recitation of 'On the Pulse of Morning' at President Bill Clinton's inauguration was a historic event

After Robert Frost in 1961, Angelou became the second poet in history to read a poem at a presidential inauguration. She was also the first African American and woman. The poem includes themes of change, inclusion, and the responsibility of both the President and citizens to create success in a country.

'And I knew that it was better to live out one's absurdity than to die for that of others.'

-Ralph Ellison, from "Invisible Man" (1913-1994)

'Adversity, if you allow it to, will fortify you and make you the best you can be.'

-American beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh Jennings (1978-present)

'In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.'

-Poet Robert Frost (1874-1963)

'Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else even cared.'

- Rapper Tupac Shakur (1971-1996)

'I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognized wiser than oneself.'

- Actress and singer Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992)

A quote by gymnast Nadia Comăneci

"Do not pray for an easy life, pray to be a strong person."

'We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.'

- President Jimmy Carter (1924-2024)

'It's those who lie outside ordinary experience who have the most to teach us.'

- Author Malcolm Gladwell (1963 - present)

'No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.'

-Charles Dickens (1812-1870), in "Our Mutual Friend"

A quote by athlete Walter Payton

"When you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something, they'll tell you."

'All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.'

- Musician George Harrison (1943–2001)

'I succeeded by saying what everyone else is thinking.'

- Comedian Joan Rivers (1933-2014)

'The true measure of all our actions is how long the good in them lasts.'

- Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022)

'Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch.'

- Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)

'Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak—and speak in such a way that people will remember it.'

- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

'Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.'

- "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000)

'If you can't do it with feeling, don't.'

-Singer Patsy Cline (1932-1963)

Joan Didion's 1975 commencement speech at UCR encouraged graduates to think outside of themselves

Filled with many widely circulated quotes, the talk addresses people's tendency to focus only on their personal ideologies and perceptions of the world. Didion advocates for being an active participant in the world, rather than existing only in our own bubbles.

'The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.'

- Saint Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

'Mockingbirds don't do one thing except make music for us to enjoy ... That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'

-Harper Lee (1926-2016) in "To Kill a Mockingbird"

'One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world'

- Activist and author Malala Yousafzai (1997-present)

'My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each others' negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.'

-Apple co-founder Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

Double rainbow appears in New York City on 9/11 anniversary

On the evening of the 9/11 anniversary in 2023, a double rainbow appeared after a thunderstorm across Manhattan, providing inspiration 22 years after the terrorist attacks there. Peruse several amateur images taken of the phenomenon which were shared on social media, including shots from up high in condos overlooking Central Park and from across the Hudson River in New Jersey.

Martha Graham's philosophy of creativity

The influential choreographer and dancer once said that creative people will never be satisfied with their work. Instead, "There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."