Man never thinks himself happy, but when he enjoys those things which others want or desire.

When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.

It is impossible to experience one’s death objectively and still carry a tune.

A man will speedily sit down and sympathize with a friend’s griefs, but if he sees him honored and esteemed, he is apt to regard him as a rival and does not so readily rejoice with him. This ought not to be; without effort, we ought to be happy in our brother’s happiness.

You might say that Lyndon Johnson is a cross between a Baptist preacher and a cowboy.

I am easily satisfied with the very best.

What is important in life is life, and not the result of life.

You can’t be happy by doing something groovy.

Fear of death increases in exact proportion to increase in wealth.

Life would pall if it were all sugar; salt is bitter if taken by itself; but when tasted as part of the dish, it savours the meat. Difficulties are the salt of life.

It is dangerous for mortal beauty, or terrestrial virtue, to be examined by too strong a light. The torch of Truth shows much that we cannot, and all that we would not, see.

In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.

Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.

The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.

God didn’t make me to make movies, flex muscles, buy gold. What you love the most becomes your God… If I never make another dollar, my life is complete.

It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them.

I am not happy, and the quest for happiness as a principal objective is not part of my world. Of course, ever since I can remember, I have done what I felt like doing.

There is little success where there is little laughter.

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.

Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.

As long as I am playing competitive football I am happy.

Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

The music we do is for people to enjoy, dance and sing to it. Dreamers – keep on dreaming and keep working hard to achieve your goals. There are many difficulties, but what matters is to stay focused and have perseverance.

My life turned out to be beyond my greatest dreams.

It is a strange desire, to seek power, and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man’s self.

Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.

You just want something else that someone else has, but that doesn’t mean what you have isn’t beautiful, because people always want what you have, and you always want what they have – no one is ever 100 per cent like, ‚Yes, I’m the bomb dot com – from head to toe!‘

I don’t see that my majority opinions are going to be undone.

For me, money is not my definition of success. Inspiring people is a definition of success.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.

Every device there is in language is there to be used, if you will. Poets have got to enjoy themselves sometimes, and the twistings and convolutions of words, the inventions and contrivances, are all part of the joy that is part of the painful, voluntary work.

Most of us experience a life full of wonderful moments and difficult moments. But for many of us, even when we are most joyful, there is fear behind our joy.

A lot of good love can happen in ten years.

We should not say that one man’s hour is worth another man’s hour, but rather that one man during an hour is worth just as much as another man during an hour. Time is everything, man is nothing: he is at the most time’s carcass.

A lot of people don’t like the road, but it’s as natural to me as breathing.

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.

If you can be well without health, you may be happy without virtue.

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

I have an expression I use as I’ve gone around the world through my career: ‚You never tell another man or woman what’s in their interest. They know their interest better than you know their interest.‘

I’m seeing the world partially through the eyes of a kid. Not all the time. There’s no black and white to it. But sometimes I’m seeing it like I’m 4.

A child thinks 20 shillings and 20 years can scarce ever be spent.

Once you start a working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.

Everything is perfect in the universe – even your desire to improve it.

Fight with a happy heart.

Things don’t have to change the world to be important.

I never think about myself as an artist working in this time. I think about it in macro.

I know I will never be happy, but I know I can be gay!

It takes no more time to see the good side of life than it takes to see the bad.

I am a normal guy from the Black Forest, and I do not compare myself with the geniuses.

The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.

If we depend for our happiness on another, on society or on environment, they become essential to us; we cling to them, and any alteration of these we violently oppose because we depend upon them for our psychological security and comfort.

Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.

Happiness can exist only in acceptance.

Little minds are interested in the extraordinary; great minds in the commonplace.

It’s certainly not wrong to want to be a better person. God gave us that desire.

The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.

Beauty is the promise of happiness.

I put up my thumb and it blotted out the planet Earth.

True wealth is not of the pocket, but of the heart and of the mind.

Frankly, I mean, sometimes the interpretations I’ve seen on some of the songs that I’ve written are a lot more interesting than the input that I put in.

What do you want a meaning for? Life is a desire, not a meaning.