My parents were dealing with evictions and repossessions and electricity getting shut off, and I just realized that I had to get it together.

Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.

You cannot let where you are today cause you to get stuck. I’m going to be my best right now. That’s what faith is all about.

When I was growing up, I wasn’t an extrovert. If anything, I was an introverted kid and a very average pupil at school. I was very quiet.

I have survivor’s curiosity, I guess.

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

Let everyone try and find that as a result of daily prayer he adds something new to his life, something with which nothing can be compared.

To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.

To be ashamed of one’s immorality: that is a step on the staircase at whose end one is also ashamed of one’s morality.

We have to continue to learn. We have to be open. And we have to be ready to release our knowledge in order to come to a higher understanding of reality.

The first step in a person’s salvation is knowledge of their sin.

If I wouldn’t have found Courtney, I probably would have carried on with a bisexual lifestyle.

Your attitude towards failure determines your altitude after failure.

I think that when you’re making your way up in the music industry, you have all these heroes and the reasons why they are your heroes. As soon as you get into the industry, your guidelines change a little bit. For me, my heroes now are great people first and great artists second.

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.

In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.

There are no second acts in American lives.

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

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

I’m mortified to be on the stage, but then again, it’s the only place where I’m happy.

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.

Somewhere deep down there’s a decent man in me, he just can’t be found.

There’s something which impels us to show our inner souls. The more courageous we are, the more we succeed in explaining what we know.

I think my worst problem is actually living in the moment and understanding everything that’s going on. I feel like I’m in my own bubble.

I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.

Follow your honest convictions and be strong.

Even as you make progress, you need the discipline to keep from backtracking and sabotaging the success as it’s happening.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

My message isn’t perfectly defined. I have, as a human being, fallen to peer pressure.

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

It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.

I never thought I would be such a family-oriented guy; I didn’t think that was part of my makeup. But somebody said that as you get older, you become the person you always should have been, and I feel that’s happening to me.

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

To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.

Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.

Do the thing we fear, and death of fear is certain.

The spirit is there in every boy; it has to be discovered and brought to light.

Ultimately this issue is on us. We’re the ones who make the decisions about what our kids eat.

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

We are always getting ready to live but never living.

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

I don’t have any regrets. I made all my own decisions.

A lot of people tell me a lot of things about my conduct, my game, my future… but I try to stay away from their words of wisdom. I don’t let it distract me. On the field, you will be facing the ball alone. If you fail, you will the only one to blame. So, you should be the one deciding for yourself.

When we look back on all the perils through which we have passed and at the mighty foes that we have laid low and all the dark and deadly designs that we have frustrated, why should we fear for our future? We have come safely through the worst.

For a long time I was scared I’d find out I was like my mother.

It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.

Whatever talents I possess may suddenly diminish or suddenly increase. I can with ease become an ordinary fool. I may be one now. But it doesn’t do to upset one’s own vanity.

People who want the most approval get the least and people who need approval the least get the most.

Sometimes I’m a bit under-aggressive and sometimes a bit over. But I think it’s good to have both.

I’m kind of fascist with myself, you know.

Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.

I’ve been called a recluse. There’s definitely truth in that. I like to spend time alone.

Why don’t you start believing that no matter what you have or haven’t done, that your best days are still out in front of you.

It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

When I was four, my mother insisted I get out of the car and find my own way home. Although I got lost, I did find my way home. It taught me the value of independence at an early age.

Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.

The dreams and passions stored within hearts are powerful keys which can unlock a wealth of potential.

We do not need to proselytise either by our speech or by our writing. We can only do so really with our lives. Let our lives be open books for all to study.

Do the duty which lies nearest to you, the second duty will then become clearer.

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.