The reason that I’m here at all is because of my relationship with my family and their encouragement of me to be a musician and to work hard. As long as I stay there in that space, I can do anything. That’s my truth.

I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

I restore myself when I’m alone.

I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart.

My one big regret is that I didn’t play on for ten more years.

I was married a few times, and one of my husbands was jealous of me writing.

To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle.

There’s nothing better than having a baby. I’ve always loved children. I used to work summers at the YMCA and be in charge of, like, 30 preschool kids. I knew that when I had a child, I’d be overwhelmed, and it’s true… I can’t tell you how much my attitude has changed since we’ve got Frances. Holding my baby is the best drug in the world.

The time when most of you should withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.

He shines in the second rank, who is eclipsed in the first.

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.

It’s much worse to read criticism about your son than yourself.

Self-centered leaders manipulate when they move people for personal benefit. Mature leaders motivate by moving people for mutual benefit.

Neither of my parents went to church, but they did everything that you needed to do to be Christian. That’s something a Quaker would call an intimation of the divine.

If one dream dies, dream another dream. If you get knocked down, get back up and go again.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.

There are certain things that bother me and certain things that don’t. Personal attacks on me? I think I’m just so used to it.

By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.

I think I have had so much blessing – I’ve had my brother, who was brilliant – I think my family came closest to making a genius when they made my brother – Bailey was just all of that. He loved me.

Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don’t do that by sitting around.

God sent me on earth. He send me to do something, and nobody can stop me. If God want to stop me, then I stop. Man never can.

You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.

I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. No matter what the injury – unless it’s completely debilitating – I’m going to be the same player I’ve always been. I’ll figure it out. I’ll make some tweaks, some changes, but I’m still coming.

I am a walking piece of art every day, with my dreams and my ambitions forward at all times in an effort to inspire my fans to lead their life in that way.

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.

I didn’t have a father figure in the house.

I want to believe that I am improving. This is something that I take really seriously.

I’ve been searching for ways to heal myself, and I’ve found that kindness is the best way.

There are people who want to make men’s lives more difficult for no other reason than the chance it provides them afterwards to offer their prescription for alleviating life; their Christianity, for instance.

In order for me to be successful… In order to be a great artist – musician, actor, painter, whatever – you must be able to be private in public at all times. That is what we do.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

I don’t have any regrets. I made all my own decisions.

Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.

How one life turns out is not dependent on what people do to us or what they don’t do for us.

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.

Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it… Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.

Working with our military community has been the biggest honor of my life.

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

An armchair Jungian would say the whole thing is about my own ongoing spiritual search. My interior life has always been one of trying to find a spiritual link, maybe because I’m from a family of separate religious philosophies: Protestant and Catholic.

Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.

My mama never wore a pair of pants when I was growing up, and now that’s all she wears. It was so funny for me when I first started seeing Mama wear pants. It was like it wasn’t Mama. Now I’ve bought her many a pantsuit because she just lives in them.

When you are in any contest, you should work as if there were – to the very last minute – a chance to lose it. This is battle, this is politics, this is anything.

I believe it is universally understood and acknowledged that all men will ever act correctly, unless they have a motive to do otherwise.

My view is that at a younger age your optimism is more and you have more imagination etc. You have less bias.

If I’m going to get you to do stuff, I need to lead you. I can’t just order you to do it.

We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork, you must make a decision.

Ambition has become a dirty word, and I believe it is a great evolutionary force for the positive. If people fail or go astray in their ambition I can live with it but not with people lowering their expectations, wasting time, slacking off and glorifying failure and stupidity.

If you work hard and play by the rules, this country is truly open to you. You can achieve anything.

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

We clearly see in God’s Word that anything He tells us to do, He will give us the ability to do it. But do we really believe it? Do we want to believe it? It’s easier to come up with excuses for why we can’t do things that are hard or that we really don’t want to do.

If you try to protect yourself from pain, it becomes a stone in your heart. But the more you learn to face things, the more likely that stone can become a pearl.

Many people know so little about what is beyond their short range of experience. They look within themselves – and find nothing! Therefore they conclude that there is nothing outside themselves either.

You don’t have to deserve your mother’s love. You have to deserve your father’s.

Unless and until you inspire the people, you will not get results. Imposition will never give you the results. Inspiration will always give you the results.

I imagine I will spend my days traveling from country to country to visit our children, who I expect will live around the world.

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.

I think a big test we all face in life on a regular basis is that discouragement test. Life’s not always fair, but I believe if you keep doing the right thing, God will get you to where you are.

You are only afraid if you are not in harmony with yourself. People are afraid because they have never owned up to themselves.