The world around me has changed, and I have learned to adapt but not change. But I’m changing into the woman I am meant to be.

I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.

The person you consider ignorant and insignificant is the one who came from God, that he might learn bliss from grief and knowledge from gloom.

I never saw myself as a folk singer.

Every one of my regrets has produced a song I’m proud of.

I feel like my music has become a lot of things. It’s hard to label the evolution, but I like there to be an evolution. I just like to paint with all different kinds of colors.

I fear that many a man’s good resolutions only need the ordinary fire of daily life to make them melt away. So, too, with fine professions and the boastings of perfection which abound in this age of shams.

I am sure there’s going to be times when I do things wrong that no one’s going to like and everyone’s going to think I’m terrible and rubbish but I know I’m going to go through those times, and it’s just about understanding that that’s going to happen.

Your most important work is always ahead of you, never behind you.

To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can do for those who study it.

One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.

If every choice you make comes from an honest place, you’re solid, and nothing anybody can say about you can rock you or change your opinion.

In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.

I do believe in self-help.

The question of sexual dominance can exist only in the nightmare of that soul which has armed itself, totally, against the possibility of the changing motion of conquest and surrender, which is love.

We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – but never blame yourself. It’s never your fault. But it’s always your fault, because if you wanted to change you’re the one who has got to change.

When I was younger, I was testing myself and questioning everything, but now it’s less about that and more about these are the years of my life with my family.

People just overshoot trying to find God. They’re going outside and trying everything. They don’t realize that it’s right inside themselves.

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.

Because forgiveness is like this: a room can be dank because you have closed the windows, you’ve closed the curtains. But the sun is shining outside, and the air is fresh outside. In order to get that fresh air, you have to get up and open the window and draw the curtains apart.

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!

I’m not critic-proof, and I still take it personally, but I take it less personally now.

I am a child but I have to think and act like a woman, this business forces you to.

No man ever prayed heartily without learning something.

My father wasn’t around when I was a kid, and I used to always say, ‚Why me? Why don’t I have a father? Why isn’t he around? Why did he leave my mother?‘ But as I got older I looked deeper and thought, ‚I don’t know what my father was going through, but if he was around all the time, would I be who I am today?‘

It’s better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.

I don’t think a lot of people know personally who I am.

I am whatever you say I am; if I wasn’t, then why would you say I am.

When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do well, that’s Memoirs.

Marriage destroyed my relationship with two wonderful men.

When you realize who you live for, and who’s important to please, a lot of people will actually start living. I am never going to get caught up in that. I’m gonna look back on my life and say that I enjoyed it – and I lived it for me.

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.

I like to be in control of how I look and how I feel and how I act.

I don’t think human beings learn anything without desperation. Desperation is a necessary ingredient to learning anything or creating anything. Period. If you ain’t desperate at some point, you ain’t interesting.

However happy people say they are, nobody is satisfied: we always have to be with the prettiest woman, buy a bigger house, change cars, desire what we do not have.

No one has ever learned fully to know themselves.

It’s very unnatural to be someone for so many people. But of course it’s very nice.

First and foremost, we need to be the adults we want our children to be. We should watch our own gossiping and anger. We should model the kindness we want to see.

Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone.

The ‚soul‘ is one of the words you can use to talk about your innermost being, the essence of who you are.

I saw a picture of myself when I came out of the hospital. I didn’t recognize myself.

It’s still scary every time I go back to the past. Each morning, my heart catches. When I get there, I remember how the light was, where the draft was coming from, what odors were in the air. When I write, I get all the weeping out.

Many people know so little about what is beyond their short range of experience. They look within themselves – and find nothing! Therefore they conclude that there is nothing outside themselves either.

I was raised by strong women, and that DNA is in my daughter and wife.

One of the wonderful things about Oprah: She teaches you to keep on stepping.

You could not step twice into the same rivers; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.

Until 1914 I loved to travel; I often went to Italy and once spent a few months in India. Since then I have almost entirely abandoned travelling, and I have not been outside of Switzerland for over ten years.

Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.

I’ve learned over the years that when I go to that place of passion within me, there’s no force in the universe that can interfere with my completing a project.

The great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.

Playing in MLS was a great experience. It has boosted my confidence and I feel I have matured as a player.

No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.

What’s really hard is that you could care a lot for someone and not want to live with him anymore.

Frustration is a sign I am acting independently. The more you try your own way, the tighter the doors will stay closed.

Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don’t ever apologize for anything.

The great epochs of our life are the occasions when we gain the courage to rebaptize our evil qualities as our best qualities.

What nourishes me also destroys me.

I want my fans to love themselves. It’s almost like I want to hypnotize them so when they hear my music they love themselves instantly.

You are victors, not victims!

A scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.

I think I mainly climb mountains because I get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I never attempt to analyze these things too thoroughly, but I think that all mountaineers do get a great deal of satisfaction out of overcoming some challenge which they think is very difficult for them, or which perhaps may be a little dangerous.