Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark, raving mad.

It opens the lungs, washes the countenance, exercises the eyes, and softens down the temper; so cry away.

Hatred is self-punishment.

They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice… that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person.

We were born to die and we die to live. As seedlings of God, we barely blossom on earth; we fully flower in heaven.

There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.

Life, if well lived, is long enough.

I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.

I’m going to stay active as long as I can politically, and with the Carter Center primarily, and if I’m able mentally and physically, will continue to be quite active.

Scripture is filled with examples of men and women whom God used late in life, often with great impact – men and women who refused to use old age as an excuse to ignore what God wanted them to do.

It is not living that matters, but living rightly.

After the 9/11 apocalypse happened in New York City, people, particularly New Yorkers, who breathed in the ash, or saw the results of that, have a tendency to keep seeing echoes and having flashbacks to it.

My life has been very full.

Having a bunch of cats around is good. If you’re feeling bad, you just look at the cats, you’ll feel better because they know that everything is just as it is. There’s nothing to get excited about. They just know. They’re saviours.

If it weren’t for painting, I wouldn’t live; I couldn’t bear the extra strain of things.

The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain.

What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.

What I want for my fans and for the world, for anyone who feels pain, is to lean into that pain and embrace it as much as they can and begin the healing process.

I wouldn’t say I have a lack of fear. In fact, I’d like my fear emotion to be less because it’s very distracting and fries my nervous system.

I didn’t get depressed, I don’t get depressed.

One of the first signs of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.

Many of my fans often tell me that they listen to my songs to get through things. And therefore, obviously, I hope that they can picture being in a place where things are better… I hope my songs can bring people to a calm place.

He too serves a certain purpose who only stands and cheers.

No one’s policing their own minds more than an author. You spend a lot of time in your own head analysing what you think about things, and a philosophy comes.

As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey.

It may be that our role on this planet is not to worship God – but to create him.

I just think it’s so important not to take yourself too seriously.

I am not happy, and the quest for happiness as a principal objective is not part of my world. Of course, ever since I can remember, I have done what I felt like doing.

I think life on Earth must be about more than just solving problems… It’s got to be something inspiring, even if it is vicarious.

Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.

A happy life is one which is in accordance with its own nature.

To forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.

A calling is you feel – you look out and see the need – maybe it’s the need for the poor, to help poor people. Maybe it’s the need to get involved in the race problem, as Martin Luther King was – felt called.

Be a force of love as often as you can and turn away negative thoughts whenever you feel them surface.

If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.

Pound’s crazy. All poets are. They have to be. You don’t put a poet like Pound in the loony bin.

The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.

I can live for two months on a good compliment.

I have lost my mental faculties but am perfectly well.

I like to let things breathe.

I look forward to a great future for America – a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.

If it wasn’t for the fun and money, I really don’t know why I’d bother.

One thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

Meditation helps me to calm down.

What is a fear of living? It’s being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take full responsibility for yourself – for the time you take up and the space you occupy. If you don’t know what you’re here to do, then just do some good.

Life is grim, and we don’t have to be grim all the time.

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.

The sovereign cure for worry is prayer.

Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools.

Sometimes, I think if you get away from what you’re called to do, it’s more of a distraction.

Nature does nothing in vain.

We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we’ve chosen to do with our life.

When you get into your car, shut the door and be there for just half a minute. Breathe, feel the energy inside your body, look around at the sky, the trees. The mind might tell you, ‚I don’t have time.‘ But that’s the mind talking to you. Even the busiest person has time for 30 seconds of space.

The Bible says that God has a reason for keeping us here; if He didn’t, He would take us to Heaven far sooner.

What keeps me up at night? Anxiety. Anxiety, the inability to go to sleep, it’s quite literally that.

I don’t know how to function without music. When I’m not making it, I’m listening to it. It gives me courage and takes care of my mind.

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.

I always knew who I was, and I always ran from my true purpose… I know what my job is. And I always ran from it.