The fact is that when you do something from your heart, you leave a heart print.

Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.

In order to have friends, you must first be one.

The only thing I know is I ain’t changing my brand. I know what I believe. I’m confident in what I know. And I’m gonna say it. And if folks like it, wonderful. If they don’t like it, I understand.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

War is a way of shattering to pieces… materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable and… too intelligent.

Everyone assumes I practise all of my own laws but I don’t. I think anybody who did would be a horrible ugly person to be around.

I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.

I tend not to like an awful lot of what is going out under my name now because it is just all product. Who needs it?

The best effort of a fine person is felt after we have left their presence.

I change my mind a lot. I usually don’t agree with what I say very much. I’m an awful liar.

Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.

It could be if I fight in front of one person or one million people. It’s still the same emotions.

Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.

Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.

Always be sincere, even if you don’t mean it.

I don’t feel much pressure to fit in. I never have. I’ve always just wanted to do my thing. I have really good friends and good family, and if I don’t fit in somewhere else, I fit in at home.

Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.

It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.

My writing is jagged and harsh, I want it to remain that way; I don’t want it smoothed out.

Some of the kids in school used to call my father a fake or a phony. That kind of thing brought on a few fights.

Only the ideas that we really live have any value.

A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.

If you’re always under the pressure of real identity, I think that is somewhat of a burden.

Peace begins with a smile.

Anger cannot be dishonest.

I’m tough when I have to be, tender when I should be. When you find a really tough guy, he’s not a predator. He doesn’t have to prove himself. Guys who have to pretend to be tough, they ain’t. I’m tough.

You may be rich, but there is one thing you can’t afford – that is, if you are a good sort – you can’t afford to spend money on your own luxuries while there are people around you wanting the necessaries of life.

We have but one permanent home: heaven – that’s still the old truth that we always have to re-learn – and it’s only through the impact of sad experiences that we assimilate it.

The poorest people are the sweetest people.

Sometimes we be playing the politics too much and forget who we are just to win.

If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.

True praise comes often even to the lowly; false praise only to the strong.

I’ve lived a very colorful life, and I’ve said some things, But not once have I taken them back, and I’ve never apologized for them – and I won’t.

In known history, nobody has had such capacity for altering the universe than the people of the United States of America. And nobody has gone about it in such an aggressive way.

It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid.

There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.

Considering their impact, you might expect mosquitoes to get more attention than they do. Sharks kill fewer than a dozen people every year, and in the U.S. they get a week dedicated to them on TV every year.

Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.

Once I knew only darkness and stillness… my life was without past or future… but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living.

I leave the genre labeling to other people. I really do. If I were to think too hard about it, that would stifle you creatively. If you think too hard about who other people want you to be as an artist, it stops you from being who you want to be as an artist.

I am the most helpful and open up doors for everyone and I like to share.

A woman’s heart must be of such a size and no larger, else it must be pressed small, like Chinese feet; her happiness is to be made as cakes are, by a fixed recipe.

My fans don’t feel like I hold anything back from them. They know whatever I’m going through now, they’ll hear about it on a record someday. They’ll hear the real story. There’s a little bit of lag time. It’s not as instant as going on a gossip blog. But it’s much more accurate.

The greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.

The exercise of benevolence is joy to loving hearts: the more pain it costs, the more joy it is. Kind actions make us happy, and in such joy we find communion with the great heart of Jesus.

I’ve always been – you know, my personality is motivating and encouraging. And so I’m just being who God made me to be.

A ‚No‘ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‚Yes‘ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

I don’t mind telling a dark side.

Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.

I don’t want to be fake. I’m just being me. And I have the power to break stereotypes and whatever useless rules that society puts on us.

There’s only one thing that can kill the movies, and that’s education.

Everywhere I go, the kids call me ‚the book lady.‘ The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the ‚book lady‘ title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I’ve done something good with my life and with my success.

Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It’s tough to do that when we’re terrified about what people might see or think.

I must be cruel, only to be kind.

When I came into this industry, I was never afraid to be myself.

If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain.

Sincere Christians can disagree about the details of Scripture and theology – absolutely.

World War II broke out in 1939, and many people credit that war with saving the economy.

I don’t like it when people who are young act like they’re 40. That’s taking too much on. Putting up a shield and trying to act like you’re so mature or whatever – I don’t try to act mature. Some people might say I’m mature for my age, but it’s not something I’m trying to do, you know? I’m just me.