I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.

The military can buy our diplomats some time.

Don’t ever forget two things I’m going to tell you. One, don’t believe everything that’s written about you. Two, don’t pick up too many checks.

There’s only one effectively redemptive sacrifice, the sacrifice of self-will to make room for the knowledge of God.

You can write a short story in two hours. Two hours a day, you have a novel in a year.

Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.

Short cuts make long delays.

I think and that is all that I am.

It is only to the individual that a soul is given.

It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.

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.

Fear is exciting for me.

One mustn’t close one’s eyes to difficulty and to shortcomings; the more one recognizes them, the less they upset one.

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.

If you are against yourself, you will never reach your highest potential. And when you criticize yourself, you’re criticizing God.

You must do the things you think you cannot do.

When I was into my 30s, I became increasingly depressed by rejection letters. I had had the feeling that by the time I was 30, I would be established. But I was not at all. By the time of ‚Lives of Girls and Women,‘ I was into my 40s and I had become more thin-skinned.

Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.

I admire people who destroy themselves.

If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults.

I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside.

I have never been able to renounce the light, the pleasure of being, and the freedom in which I grew up.

If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.

I’m bloody awful at multi-tasking.

I’ll never, ever be full. I’ll always be hungry. Obviously, I’m not talking about food. Growing up, I had nothing for such a long time. Someone told me a long time ago, and I’ve never forgotten it, ‚Once you’ve ever been hungry, really, really hungry, then you’ll never, ever be full.‘

Now that I understand that I’m an addict, I definitely have compassion for my mother. I get it.

Indeed, it is as important to learn how to receive a blessing as it is to be willing to give one.

The beginning of compunction is the beginning of a new life.

If you’re not ready for everything, you’re not ready for anything.

Many people feel so pressured by the expectations of others that it causes them to be frustrated, miserable and confused about what they should do. But there is a way to live a simple, joy-filled, peaceful life, and the key is learning how to be led by the Holy Spirit, not the traditions or expectations of man.

Most people already know what they’re doing wrong. When I get them to church I want to tell them that you can change.

Why regret anything? Where does it get you to regret anything you’ve ever done in your life? It gets you nowhere. It’s a pathetic emotion that you can wallow in.

It is more difficult to rule yourself than to rule a city.

I explain the law of compensation like this: ‚Returns are minimal in spite of massive effort at the start, yet returns can be massive with minimal effort over time.

The best measure of a man’s honesty isn’t his income tax return. It’s the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.

I’ve always put everybody else’s child first before my own health, before my own outfit, before my own time frame.

I don’t believe in ‚thinking‘ old. Although I’ve transitioned through many bodies – a baby, toddler, child, teen, young adult, mid-life and older adult – my spirit is unchanged. I support my body with exercise, my mind with reading and writing, and my spirit with the knowing that I am part of the Divine source of all life.

Don’t feel sorry for me.

I write songs about stuff that I can’t really get past personally – and then I write a song about it and I feel better.

Anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there.

Today I love myself as I love my god: who could charge me with a sin today? I know only sins against my god; but who knows my god?

It’s hard to practice compassion when we’re struggling with our authenticity or when our own worthiness is off-balance.

When your higher self is present, it always promotes peace.

I’m aware that, whatever the circumstances, there will always be speculation about me.

I spent most of the early years of my walk with God focused on what was wrong with me. Most of us probably do that, hoping to change ourselves.

To live is to find out for yourself what is true, and you can do this only when there is freedom, when there is continuous revolution inwardly, within yourself.

My theory is 98 percent of all human endeavor is killing time.

Stay active. Read the Word. Worship with other believers. Continue to give. Keep learning and growing. Your faith will be unleashed!

How do I confront aging? With a wonder and a terror. Yeah, I’ll say that. Wonder and terror.

To love is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.

When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do well, that’s Memoirs.

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.

Well begun is half done.

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

The most happy man is he who knows how to bring into relation the end and beginning of his life.

When you stop caring what people think, you lose your capacity for connection. When you’re defined by it, you lose our capacity for vulnerability.

We must use time creatively.

You can live your life angry, bitter, mad at somebody or even guilty, not letting go of your own mistakes, but you won’t receive the good things God has in store.

I am who I am today because of my mother.

Get mad, then get over it.

I don’t see myself in terms of artifice. I see myself as a real person who chooses to live my life in an open way – artistically.