I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.

I am getting to the point where the only love worth being in is the love worth singing about.

When I see myself as an old woman, I just think about being happy. And hopefully, I’ll still be fly.

This self-love is the instrument of our preservation; it resembles the provision for the perpetuity of mankind: it is necessary, it is dear to us, it gives us pleasure, and we must conceal it.

I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don’t always agree with them.

Don’t think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed.

Vanity can create a very cruel space for you if you don’t know how to manage it.

We have all had the experience of finding that our reactions and perhaps even our deeds have denied beliefs we thought were ours.

It undoubtedly feels nice when you are being appreciated and you get complimented by girls. Who doesn’t like that? Having said that, I don’t take it as any pressure.

I can be a cruel person.

Maybe I should say that memory interests me a great deal, because I think we all tell stories of our lives to ourselves as well as to other people. Well, women do, anyway. Women do this a lot. And I think when men get older, they do this too, but maybe in slightly different terms.

What really matters is how God sees me. He isn’t concerned with labels; he is concerned about the state of man’s soul.

I’m ugly.

Somewhere, everywhere, now hidden, now apparent in what ever is written down, is the form of a human being. If we seek to know him, are we idly occupied?

Oh, God, I struggle with low self-esteem all the time! I think everyone does. I have so much wrong with me, it’s unbelievable!

I’ve always felt quite singular, even as a child. That I must stay on track to keep my purpose.

One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.

Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist.

I was called ‚Dumbo,‘ like the elephant, as a child because I couldn’t understand things at school.

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.

What I have in common with the character in ‚Truman‘ is this incredible need to please people. I feel like I want to take care of everyone and I also feel this terrible guilt if I am unable to. And I have felt this way ever since all this success started.

I like to recede away from classifications. You might say that indicates a fundamental lack of commitment. I suppose that’s true to some degree.

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.

It’s hard to articulate how I think about myself as a public figure.

My ‚fear‘ is my substance, and probably the best part of me.

Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.

I don’t write so much now. I’m getting on 33, pot belly and creeping dementia.

Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.

If man made himself the first object of study, he would see how incapable he is of going further. How can a part know the whole?

I know that I’m not the easiest person to live with. The challenge I put on myself is so great that the person I live with feels himself challenged. I bring a lot to bear, and I don’t know how not to.

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

I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.

The greatness of man is great in that he knows himself to be wretched. A tree does not know itself to be wretched.

Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

I’m super self-critical, which I think is good, because then I get exactly what I want. I’m critical of other people, too – I try not to be, though.

I have zero desire, just so you know, to be in the limelight. I don’t think it’s good for the country to have a former president criticize his successor. You’re not going to see me giving my opinions in the public arena, until I start selling my book. I’m going to emerge then submerge.

I’m not arrogant enough to look back on my career and criticize my choices. It’s really not my place.

Although I’m only fourteen, I know quite well what I want. I know who is right and who is wrong. I have my opinions, my own ideas and principles, and although it may sound pretty mad from an adolescent, I feel more of a person than a child. I feel quite independent of anyone.

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.

If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.

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

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

I was inspired to spend an entire year – my 65th year – reading, researching, and meditating on Lao-tzu’s messages, practicing them and ultimately writing down these insights as I felt Lao-tzu wanted us to know them.

As for my own views, they’ve of course evolved over the years. This conception of ‚renouncing beliefs‘ is very odd, as if we’re in some kind of religious cult. I ‚renounce beliefs‘ practically every time I think about the topics or find out what someone else is thinking.

God doesn’t love me any more or less because I had some work done on my face.

I listen to my old records and I think, ‚How did I ever get on the radio?‘

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.

I think I’ve committed the one really bad English crime, which is I’ve risen above my station. I was supposed to be a pop star, and suddenly I’m claiming that I’m an artist of some kind.

You’re just left with yourself all the time, whatever you do anyway. You’ve got to get down to your own God in your own temple. It’s all down to you, mate.

Somewhere deep down there’s a decent man in me, he just can’t be found.

Now, you lose something in your life, or you come into a conflict, and there’s gonna come a time that you’re gonna know: There was a reason for that. And at the end of your life, all the things you thought were periods, they turn out to be commas. There was never a full stop in any of it.

We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – but never blame yourself. It’s never your fault. But it’s always your fault, because if you wanted to change you’re the one who has got to change.

Take me seriously. Take me and my role seriously. Take my talent seriously.

A part of me has become immortal, out of my control.

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‚If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?‘ And whenever the answer has been ‚No‘ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

O‘ What may man within him hide, though angel on the outward side!

I have many regrets, and I’m sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret… if you have any sense, and if you don’t regret them, maybe you’re stupid.

Only the shallow know themselves.

My only fault is that I don’t realize how great I really am.

I’m happy being myself, which I’ve never been before. I always hid in other people, or tried to find myself through the characters, or live out their lives, but I didn’t have those things in mine.