The personal ego already has a strong element of dysfunction, but the collective ego is, frequently, even more dysfunctional, to the point of absolute insanity.

The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.

We are all at times unconscious prophets.

If man made himself the first object of study, he would see how incapable he is of going further. How can a part know the whole?

I know nothing, except the fact of my ignorance.

It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is.

There’s a deceptive sin that can keep us from walking in love: pride. It’s deceptive because when you have pride, you’re usually too proud to admit it. I know this because I used to have teachings on pride and they didn’t sell well.

We must be our own before we can be another’s.

The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.

I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.

I’ve been reckless, but I’m not a rebel without a cause.

Egos are never nice. I have been a victim of it a lot of times in my career. Whenever I have used it, I have failed.

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.

Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for a time, leave us the weaker ever after.

Thought must be divided against itself before it can come to any knowledge of itself.

I would rather be able to appreciate things I can not have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.

Modesty is a learned affectation. And as soon as life slams the modest person against the wall, that modesty drops.

Love is a state of being.

Friendship with ones self is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.

Vanity is great motivation, to be fair.

Ordinary readers, forgive my paradoxes: one must make them when one reflects; and whatever you may say, I prefer being a man with paradoxes than a man with prejudices.

Hatred is inveterate anger.

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

The true identity theft is not financial. It’s not in cyberspace. It’s spiritual. It’s been taken.

Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other.

I’m one of the world’s most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.

If you do not wish a man to do a thing, you had better get him to talk about it; for the more men talk, the more likely they are to do nothing else.

Many people identify their sense of self with the problems they have, or think they have.

We should take care not to make the intellect our goal; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.

If you will have a person enslaved, the first thing you must do is convince yourself that the person is subhuman. The second thing you have to do is convince your allies so you’ll have some help, and the third and probably unkindest cut of all is to convince that person that he or she is subhuman and deserves it.

I’m my own worst critic, and if I don’t pull off what I think I wanted to do in my head, then I won’t be a happy girl.

I do suffer from depression, I suppose. Which isn’t that unusual. You know, a lot of people do.

What it’s like to be me? You know, it’s good to be me. My life is good.

I think I’m pretty smart. I think I’m pretty clever. But there’s a lot that you hone in on when you finish your education.

I think there is a sense of being forced at this time to look at America’s really large shadow and that’s not all that bad.

To know anything well involves a profound sensation of ignorance.

If you only believe that you’re an artist when you have a big advance in your pocket and a single coming out, I would say that’s quite soulless. You have to have a sense of your own greatness and your own ability from a very deep place inside you. I am the one with the litmus test in my hands of what people need to hear next.

I’d like to be known for more than being the guy in the big suit.

We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane.

Man’s task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious.

Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.

Almost everybody is born a genius and buried an idiot.

The human mind is our fundamental resource.

There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.

Control and surrender have to be kept in balance. That’s what surfers do – take control of the situation, then be carried, then take control. In the last few thousand years, we’ve become incredibly adept technically. We’ve treasured the controlling part of ourselves and neglected the surrendering part.

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

People should make up their own mind about what they think of me.

I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.

A daily portion is really all we need. We do not need tomorrow’s supply, for that day has not yet dawned, and its needs are still unborn.

Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.

I can be a cruel person.

The more in harmony with yourself you are, the more joyful you are and the more faithful you are. Faith is not to disconnect you from reality – it connects you to reality.

Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

My only fault is that I don’t realize how great I really am.

Remember that your imagination is yours and yours alone. You have the inborn capacity to use it in any way that you choose. No one else is responsible for your imagination. Anything placed in your imagination and held there ultimately becomes your reality.