I’m an expert typist. I learned in high school. I would close my eyes and just type without worrying about mistakes. I tried to penetrate my heart, and as I let my thoughts drift, things bubbled up to the surface.

We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives… inside ourselves.

I’ve been writing poems since I was in the Navy – to Rosalynn. I found I could say things in poems that I never could in prose. Deeper, more personal things. I could write a poem about my mother that I could never tell my mother. Or feelings about being on a submarine that I would have been too embarrassed to share with fellow submariners.

I don’t follow all the 48 laws. Like, I’ve never crushed anyone totally.

I’ve always felt like there was a lot of hype around me even when there wasn’t. I felt like everyone was talking about me even when no one was talking about me.

You always have to remember that if you say something negative, it’s going to come back to haunt you.

Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.

I have an obsession with knowing the answers to things. When I don’t know what happened, it just bothers me, gets under my skin, and I need to write about it.

Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It’s tough to do that when we’re terrified about what people might see or think.

I always say this about my music, and music in general: Music is like a time capsule. Each album reflects what I’m going through or what’s going on in my life at that moment.

I feel like in my music I can be a rebel. I can say things I wouldn’t say in real life.

Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.

My general attitude to life is to enjoy every minute of every day. I never do anything with a feeling of, ‚Oh God, I’ve got to do this today.‘

There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.

The relationship to one’s fellow man is the relationship of prayer, the relationship to oneself is the relationship of striving; it is from prayer that one draws the strength for one’s striving.

I liked to write from the time I was about 12 or 13. I loved to read. And since I only spoke to my brother, I would write down my thoughts. And I think I wrote some of the worst poetry west of the Rockies. But by the time I was in my 20s, I found myself writing little essays and more poetry – writing at writing.

It was still quiet in the house, and not a sound was heard from outside, either. Were it not for this silence, my reverie would probably have been disrupted by reminders of daily duties, of getting up and going to school.

When you go on your Twitter or look down your Timeline and it’s all great positivity – I love that. But at the same time, it can really divert you from what your purpose is or what you’re trying to do. And I’ve seen artists get caught up in that.

Your Highest Self is not just an idea that sounds lofty and spiritual. It is a way of being. It is the very first principle that you must come to understand and embrace as you move toward attracting to you that which you want and need for this parenthesis in eternity that you know as your life.

A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.

Cycling can be lonely, but in a good way. It gives you a moment to breathe and think, and get away from what you’re working on.

I think and that is all that I am.

You might not have the things you want, but if you check carefully, you got all you need.

I’m totally myself.

My mind doesn’t work, my memories don’t work like a computer file where I can just retrieve them and, boy, there it is. My mind is selective in terms of memories. When I try to think back to college or high school, there are gaps. I try to fill them in. But I can’t tell you it’s always the truth.

People gonna be they own individuals and have they own worlds and I can’t knock it.

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.

Peace in the world starts with peace in oneself. If everyone lives mindfully, everyone will be more healthy, feel more fulfilled in their daily lives and there will be more peace.

Man’s enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.

Some artists just ruin their voices because they don’t know any better.

If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.

If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.

Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.

I have no models in Japanese literature. I created my own style, my own way.

We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.

I’m never on Twitter. I’m never on Instagram. And that’s not by choice: it’s just that those things never really interested me. I might post a picture here and there, but that ain’t really been my focus.

It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It’s called living.

Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you never see it?

We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.

Look at the means which a man employs, consider his motives, observe his pleasures. A man simply cannot conceal himself!

Total relaxation is the secret to enjoying sitting meditation. I sit with my spine upright, but not rigid; and I relax all the muscles in my body.

I wish myself to be a prop, if anything, for my songs. I want to be the vehicle for my songs. I would like to colour the material with as much visual expression as is necessary for that song.

The hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes.

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.

I’m not afraid to write my feelings in songs.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

I learn poetry, learn text, and that really keeps you alive.

All that self-expression has just created a generation of morons, hooked on an endless appetite for rubbish.

It’s very hard to find your own words – and you don’t actually exist until you have your own words.

It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life.

Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.

Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you.

Work as if you were to live a hundred years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow.

Thinking is a wonderful tool if it’s applied. Thinking, however, can not become the master. Thinking is a very bad master. If you’re dominated by thinking then your life becomes very restricted.

Only God can look at somebody’s heart.

I know this sounds strange, but as a kid, I was really shy. Painfully shy. The turning point was freshman year, when I was the biggest geek alive. No one, I mean no one, even talked to me.

The enemy is within the gates; it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend.

Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.

I know how fiction matters to me, because if I want to express myself, I have to make up a story. Some people call it imagination. To me, it’s not imagination. It’s just a way of watching.

With mindfulness, you can establish yourself in the present in order to touch the wonders of life that are available in that moment.