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.

Of all acts of man repentance is the most divine. The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.

I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world.

I don’t stand for the black man’s side, I don‘ t stand for the white man’s side. I stand for God’s side.

Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.

People may think I’m trying something new by telling stories, but they’re just jokes connected to give the illusion of stories. But really, I just continue using my imagination and creating. That’s what I do.

I got my own back.

It’s always appealing to play a character that has to overcome himself as well as an obstacle. It makes the drama so much deeper.

Now, God be praised, that to believing souls gives light in darkness, comfort in despair.

The day we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior is one of the greatest days of our lives. Not only are our sins washed away, but God puts His Spirit inside of us and gives us new desires.

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.

I believe many people feel like God is mad at them.

You’ve got to have faith in what you’re doing and not take no for an answer.

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.

Every now and then I read a poem that does touch something in me, but I never turn to poetry for solace or pleasure in the way that I throw myself into prose.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

I can’t prove it scientifically, that there’s a God, but I believe.

In the divine milieu, all the elements of the universe touch each other by that which is most inward and ultimate in them. There they concentrate, little by little, all that is purest and most attractive in them without loss and without danger of subsequent corruption.

No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.

I don’t have any secrets I need kept any more.

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.

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

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.

The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.

If you’re going to spend two years of your life on something, it has to matter to you; you have to be passionate about it.

The more a person seeks security, the more that person gives up control over their life.

The Army will take its lessons learned. They’re excellent at looking into themselves and reflecting on what did we do right, what did we do wrong.

Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?… It is necessary to accompany them with mercy.

I think, for years, people have been pushed down by religion, and I don’t say that disrespectfully, but they’ve been shown a God that you can’t measure up to.

My whole thing is to inspire, to better people, to better myself forever in this thing that we call rap, this thing that we call hip hop.

In the Bible, we first encounter God when he sides with a bunch of slaves against a powerful Pharaoh, an act of grace freely given.

Everything is subject to change except God Himself.

Sometimes when you’ve had a long series of disappointing things happen, you can get into the very bad habit of just expecting more of what you’ve already had.

God is so big. It’s a gigantic concept in God. The idea that God might love us and be interested in us is kind of huge and gigantic, but we turn it, because we’re small-minded, into this tiny, petty, often greedy version of God, that is religion.

If a man constantly aspires is he not elevated?

There is such a thing as old emotional pain living inside you. It is an accumulation of painful life experience that was not fully faced and accepted in the moment it arose. It leaves behind an energy form of emotional pain.

Those of us who submitted or surrendered our ideas and dreams and identities to the ‚leaders‘ must take back our rights, our identities, our responsibilities.

All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.

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

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.

She never envisioned a legal career for me, but she did think it was very important that I be able to support myself, and I think she would be pleased to see what has become of me.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

To study history means submitting to chaos and nevertheless retaining faith in order and meaning.

The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.

Feels good to try, but playing a father, I’m getting a little older. I see now that I’m taking it more serious and I do want that lifestyle.

When I was growing up, there was nobody in my family – not even my mother – who I could look to and be like, ‚I know you’ve never said anything homophobic.‘ So, you know, you worry about people in the business who you’ve heard talk that way. Some of my heroes coming up talk recklessly like that.

I haven’t been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will in the future.

Self-actualized people are independent of the good opinion of others.

I think I have to trust that you end up with the person you’re supposed to end up with, and that everything in between is there to teach you stuff.

Our inquiring friends and neighbors not of our faith can also catch the wave. We encourage them to keep all that is good and true in their lives. And we invite them to receive more, especially the glorious truth that through God’s eternal plan, families can be together forever.

The only answer to fear is faith in God, knowing He loves you unconditionally and individually.

The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.

God is the name people give to the reason we are here. But I think that reason is the laws of physics rather than someone with whom one can have a personal relationship. An impersonal God.

I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe, that the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction.

Man is not born to atheism. He is born to believe.

To me, constructive criticism is when people take ownership of their ideas. That’s why I don’t listen to anything that’s anonymous. But it’s hard; when there’s something hurtful out there, I still want to read it over and over and memorize it and explain my point of view to the person.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look – for dizzier heights.

I worked with someone who told me they’d never like me. But for some reason, I just felt like I needed her approval. So I started changing myself to please her. It made me stop being social and friendly. I was so unhappy.

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