Some guys look better as they get older.

For a young person, it is almost a sin, or at least a danger, to be too preoccupied with himself; but for the ageing person, it is a duty and a necessity to devote serious attention to himself.

For my generation, the bomber jacket is like a replacement for the suit jacket. It’s a piece that men wear every day, and it’s something that I would wear for any occasion, whether it’s on the street or going to an awards ceremony.

I have great faith in fools; self-confidence my friends call it.

When someone bestows something on you, no matter how true it is, when someone says, ‚Sexiest Man Alive,‘ I’m honestly going, ‚Thank you. Right on.‘ For me, it’s never canceled out anything, it’s never made me go, ‚Does this make me less talented of an actor?‘

Men always want and love when women wear tight and fitted clothing, right? And you’re like, ‚Wow, she looks so beautiful.‘ And then you have men who dress like slobs, and you’re like, ‚What’s the deal with these big and baggy suits.‘ It’s pretty ridiculous.

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened by anyone’s perception of me.

When I cut my hair, the whole sound changed, my style changed.

You have to just accept your body. You may not love it all the way, but you just have to be comfortable with it, comfortable with knowing that that’s your body.

I’m sick of the tabloids‘ saying I obsess over guys. Why would you obsess over guys? They don’t like it.

I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people’s minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing.

My public is growing up just as I am. After all, I’m not 19 anymore and if I stick with the sex bit, who will be paying to see me when I’m 50?

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

I always hated how I looked on camera. I never put a face to my music, which actually made the music that much more mysterious.

He who is of calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden.

I thought one should have the attitude of ‚What do you care what other people think!‘

Timidity makes a person modest. It makes him or her say, ‚I’m not worthy of being written up in the record of deeds in heaven or on earth.‘ Timidity keeps people from their good. They are afraid to say, ‚Yes, I deserve it.‘

Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.

That’s when you know you’re the greatest: when you’re the greatest, and people still put odds against you.

If you want to become fully mature in the Lord, you must learn to love truth. Otherwise, you will always leave open a door of deception for the enemy to take what is meant to be yours.

I would love to continue in music, with writing… but I am not the kind of person who will hang around if I start to become irrelevant. If that happens, I will bow down gracefully, raise my kids, and have a garden. And I am going to let my hair go gray when I am older. I don’t need to be blonde when I’m 60!

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

There will be days when I walk in an arena and people will cheer and then there might be days when I walk in an arena and people might boo, but it all sounds the same to me because it’s all just noise that lets me know that I’m relevant.

I think dress, hairstyle and make-up are the crucial factors in projecting an attractive persona and give one the chance to enhance one’s best physical features.

You’re not going to say anything about me that I’m not going to say about myself. There’s so many things that I think about myself; if someone really wanted to get at me, they could say this and this and this. So I’m going to say it before they can. It’s the best policy for me.

Sometimes I wonder if we shall ever grow up in our politics and say definite things which mean something, or whether we shall always go on using generalities to which everyone can subscribe, and which mean very little.

Now I am older, I understand we have to accept who we are.

Honestly, I could care less about other people’s opinions about me.

You have to feel confident. If you don’t, then you’re going to be hesitant and defensive, and there’ll be a lot of things working against you.

All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.

No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.

It was clear to me that if I could get through Princeton at the top of my class, I could do anything in the world.

I don’t know if I’ve ever cared much what others think.

Loving someone liberates the lover as well as the beloved. And that kind of love comes with age.

I go down the street, people see me: ‚Hey, I pity-‚ right on, man, that’s a compliment to me.

I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.

I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.

Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.

I don’t dabble and spend much mind or time dealing with, I don’t know, people’s perceptions of me. I truly don’t.

That’s all I could ever hope for, to have a positive effect on women. ‚Cos women are powerful, powerful beings. But they’re also the most doubtful beings. They’ll never know – we’ll never know – how powerful we are.

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

I am who I am. That’s why my friends and peers respect and appreciate me. I don’t change or cater my actions to fit my surroundings. I’m myself 24/7. People appreciate that.

I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.

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.

You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.

You’re dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway.

Why is it you always meet people when you look your worst?

I would say things like ‚I am the greatest! I’m pretty! If you talk jive, you’ll drop in five! I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee! I’m pretty!‘ When white people heard me talking like this, some said, ‚That black man talks too much. He’s bragging.‘

I want kids to know: Don’t wait for somebody to come along and tell you you’re special. Because that may never happen.

What is true belongs to me!

I’m not going to say I’m cool, because I don’t really feel that. I just don’t care at all, and I guess that’s what people think is cool.

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

To excel at the highest level – or any level, really – you need to believe in yourself, and hands down, one of the biggest contributors to my self-confidence has been private coaching.

If I feel anxious every time someone is staring at me, well, I can’t control what they stare at, but my reaction is, I’m just not going to go outside the house. I’m going to stay in and chill. And when I do go out, I understand what comes along with that.

Those who believe that they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something.

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter could be said to remedy anything.

It is healthier, in any case, to write for the adults one’s children will become than for the children one’s ‚mature‘ critics often are.

Being the only man in the household with my mom definitely helped me grow up fast.

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

My success isn’t a result of arrogance – it’s a result of belief.