People are looking for something a little more stable; people are feeling like they need to get closer to God.

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.

My reputation grows with every failure.

Character is determined more by the lack of certain experiences than by those one has had.

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.

Needing to have things perfect is the surest way to immobilize yourself with frustration.

I had the classic 40 meltdown. I did. It’s embarrassing. It was pretty funny. But then I recovered. To me, it was like a second adolescence. Hormonally, my body was changing, my mind was changing, and so my relationship to myself and the world around me came to this assault of finiteness.

Certain though I am – and ever more certain – that I must press on in life as though Christ awaited me at the term of the universe, at the same time I feel no special assurance of the existence of Christ. Believing is not seeing. As much as anyone, I imagine, I walk in the shadows of faith.

Conversion is a change of masters. Will we not do as much for our new master, the Lord Jesus, as we did once for our old tyrant lusts?

In the same way the sun never grows weary of shining, nor a stream of flowing, it is God’s nature to keep His promises. Therefore, go immediately to His throne and say, ‚Do as You promised.‘

I love being American, and I love family. I love having a family, and I feel so blessed, and I feel like God gave me exactly what I wanted, so now I have to do the right thing in God’s eyes also. Just follow what God wants me to do.

I think writing really helps you heal yourself. I think if you write long enough, you will be a healthy person. That is, if you write what you need to write, as opposed to what will make money, or what will make fame.

If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.

Everything is subject to change except God Himself.

People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.

A lot of the problems I had with fame I was bringing on myself. A lot of self-loathing, a lot of woe-is-me. Now I’m learning to see the positive side of things, instead of, like, ‚I can’t go to Kmart. I can’t take my kids to the haunted house.‘

I’ve just tried to grow up in the most natural and gradual process that I possibly can and make choices I feel are right for me and my fans.

They say miracles are past.

I’m sure I’ve changed my mind about something. Inevitably, when we grow up – as we get more experience and wiser. Well, I’ve changed my mind about some food that I didn’t like when I was young.

My philosophy is it’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am, and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.

Let not a libation of tears be the only offering at the shrine of Jesus; let us also rejoice with joy unspeakable. If we have need to lament our sin, how much more to rejoice at our pardon!

Never complain. Never explain.

I feel like I have a job to do, like I constantly have to reinvent myself. The more I up the ante for myself, the better it is in the long run. I try to interact with my fans as much as possible. It’s good that the person I’m being onstage isn’t really an act. It’s really me.

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

The reason that I’m here at all is because of my relationship with my family and their encouragement of me to be a musician and to work hard. As long as I stay there in that space, I can do anything. That’s my truth.

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.

Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.

Most of us aren’t defeated in one decisive battle. We are defeated one tiny, seemingly insignificant surrender at a time that chips away at who we should really be.

If there are people you haven’t forgiven, you’re not going to really awaken. You have to let go.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride.

I think people should feel encouraged to be themselves.

I’m very aware and very conscious of the path I chose in life, and very aware of the path I didn’t choose.

We all face storms in life. Some are more difficult than others, but we all go through trials and tribulation. That’s why we have the gift of faith.

Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by action alone.

I suppose for a very long time I’ve been trying to understand how it is that people might make sense out of their lives and make meaning and make their lives meaningful in the face of the trouble that life brings.

It’s not an easy course. It’s not designed to be. We’re not here to get you in touch with your inner child.

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.

Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.

The Bible says to ‚fear not,‘ but this doesn’t mean you should never feel scared. It means when you do feel fear, keep going forward and do what you are supposed to do. Or as I like to say, do it afraid.

It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.

God is, even though the whole world deny him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.

At 30 a man should know himself like the palm of his hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures – be what he is. And, above all, accept these things.

Usually, people have a tendency to be caught in the worries concerning the future or in the regret concerning the past. There is some kind of energy that is pushing them to run, and they are not able to establish themselves in the present moment.

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

If you have the chance to be exposed to a loving, understanding environment where the seed of compassion, loving kindness, can be watered every day, then you become a more loving person.

I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850.

Things do not change; we change.

Prison life, fortunately, I spent a lot of years, about 18 years with other prisoners, and, as I say, they enriched your soul.

Mormonism is a little different, but I still see them as brothers in Christ.

Those of us who submitted or surrendered our ideas and dreams and identities to the ‚leaders‘ must take back our rights, our identities, our responsibilities.

The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.

Our necessities never equal our wants.

I don’t like to read things that people write about me. I’d rather read what kids have to say about me because it’s not their profession to do that.

I just wanted to write something about running, but I realized that to write about my running is to write about my writing. It’s a parallel thing in me.

I got teased my entire school life. What they were picking on I don’t even understand.

Before finding music, I didn’t have too many aspirations. I wanted to hang out, make a little money from whatever I had to do.

This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do.

Complaining is dangerous business. It can damage or even destroy your relationship with God, your relationships with other people, and even with your relationship with yourself.

It is impossible to underrate human intelligence – beginning with one’s own.