If selfishness is the key to being miserable, then selflessness must be the key to being happy!

If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.

A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others.

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

We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.

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.

Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made nothing entirely straight can be carved.

I do believe in the old saying, ‚What does not kill you makes you stronger.‘ Our experiences, good and bad, make us who we are. By overcoming difficulties, we gain strength and maturity.

The left paw has done me well over the years. I’m not a scientist, I’m a martial artist.

A man will speedily sit down and sympathize with a friend’s griefs, but if he sees him honored and esteemed, he is apt to regard him as a rival and does not so readily rejoice with him. This ought not to be; without effort, we ought to be happy in our brother’s happiness.

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

Some habits of ineffectiveness are rooted in our social conditioning toward quick-fix, short-term thinking.

He who knows best knows how little he knows.

Guarding your heart and protecting your dignity are a little bit more important than clarifying the emotions of someone who’s only texting you back three words. I’ve learned that from trying to figure out people who don’t deserve to be figured out.

Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do.

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.‘

Compliment three people every day.

I am just one human being.

I have the Midas touch, in the way that when I hook up with a project, I feel, not speaking cocky or conceited, but there’s a confidence I have. I learned that from Muhammad Ali; I used to bodyguard him. He taught me about confidence. So when it comes to any job I work, I’m gonna do it good; I’m going to bring it over the top.

The things that transfixed you as a child, that you found most exciting was not a passing fancy, but a message about what you’re supposed to do.

What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.

Those who know me know I’m passionate about lists, and top of my list of priorities is my family. My wife Joan and I do not consider our legacy to our children to be wealth or fame but the opportunity to pursue happiness by following their own path.

I find with most of my readers are kind of like me, sort of people who were a little bit naive in life and then learned the hard way that this is what’s going on, the political games and most of my readers write to me telling me that the book helped them open their eyes to what other people are doing to them.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.

You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.

Anything you put your mind to and add your imagination into can make your life a lot better and a lot more fun.

Yeah, I like to keep myself interested – I’ll kind of throw myself into some area that I don’t completely know or understand, that I’m not adept at, so I’m forced to swim in order to stay afloat. There’s a good feeling that comes from that.

I was born with a happy heart, and I try to keep a good attitude. It’s not true that I’m happy all the time because nobody is, and we all go through our things.

Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.

Have you ever asked yourselves what you are going to do when you grow up? In all likelihood you will get married, and before you know where you are, you will be mothers and fathers; and you will then be tied to a job, or to the kitchen, in which you will gradually wither away. Is that all that your life is going to be?

I never sell a book. I sell myself. And the way to sell yourself is to be an instrument of love.

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.

My life turned out to be beyond my greatest dreams.

I think that, whatever happens, I’m just happy I’ve written those songs and I’ve made an album. That’s really big for me, and I’m proud of that.

So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for every thing one has a mind to do.

Prison was the best thing that ever happened to me.

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

Like every parent, when you start your family, your life completely changes. And you completely live for someone else. I find that the most extraordinary thing. Your life is handed over to someone else. From that moment on, they come first in every choice you make. It’s the most wonderful thing.

The Sisters of Notre Dame at St. Aloysius Grade School influenced my life tremendously. This was due to the fact that they encouraged you always to make sure that God is the focus of your life, and they didn’t allow you to do anything except to the very best of your ability.

An employer of mine back in the ’80s was kind enough to take me on after a rough patch, and it made a big difference in my life that I knew I was the sort of person who showed up on time. It’s a basic tell of character.

Saints can be happy under every circumstance.

When new turns of behavior cease to appear in the life of the individual, its behavior ceases to be intelligent.

Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.

Your most important work is always ahead of you, never behind you.

If pleasures are greatest in anticipation, just remember that this is also true of trouble.

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.

Prison life, fortunately, I spent a lot of years, about 18 years with other prisoners, and, as I say, they enriched your soul.

We spend our lives, all of us, waiting for the great day, the great battle, or the deed of power. But that external consummation is not given to many: nor is it necessary. So long as our being is tensed, directed with passion, towards that which is the spirit of all things, then that spirit will emerge from our own hidden, nameless effort.

Didn’t get promoted? Good. More time to get better.

I used to stutter really badly. Everybody thinks it’s funny. And it’s not funny. It’s not.

We fear that this moment will end, that we won’t get what we need, that we will lose what we love, or that we will not be safe. Often, our biggest fear is the knowledge that one day our bodies will cease functioning. So even when we are surrounded by all the conditions for happiness, our joy is not complete.

Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.

Many churches of all persuasions are hiring research agencies to poll neighborhoods, asking what kind of church they prefer. Then the local churches design themselves to fit the desires of the people. True faith in God that demands selflessness is being replaced by trendy religion that serves the selfish.

Know that any and all thoughts that you have regarding your own skills, interests, and inclinations are valid. To reinforce the validity of your thoughts, keep them private. Tell yourself that they’re between you and God.

I fear that too many have sadly surrendered their agency to the adversary and are saying by their conduct, ‚I care more about satisfying my own desires than I do about bearing the Savior’s power to bless others.‘

Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.

The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.

Perfectionists demand perfection from themselves first and foremost.

I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.