First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress.

I would like to fly in space. Absolutely. That would be cool. I used to just do personally risky things, but now I’ve got kids and responsibilities, so I can’t be my own test pilot. That wouldn’t be a good idea. But I definitely want to fly as soon as it’s a sensible thing to do.

No man who worships education has got the best out of education… Without a gentle contempt for education no man’s education is complete.

There are so many emotions that you’re feeling, you can get stifled by them if you’re feeling them all at once. What I try to do is take one moment – one simple, simple feeling – and expand it into three-and-a-half minutes.

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them.

How people themselves perceive what they are doing is not a question that interests me.

I’m a big believer in doing things that make you uncomfortable. So, we live in a world where we want to be as comfortable as we can. And we wonder why we have no growth. We wonder why – when the smallest thing in our life gets difficult – we wonder why we cower and we run away.

I think I could go away tomorrow. I’ve already accomplished something. It’s such a selfish business that sometimes I get sick of myself.

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.

I really do feel part of America to my very bones; at the same time, I know that I come from somewhere else.

I had given up some youth for knowledge, but my gain was more valuable than the loss.

Always do whatever’s next.

There are some teams and logos you see, no matter where you are in the world, and you know exactly who they are and what they mean.

I exaggerate when I’m angry, but I’ve never gone around telling people things that aren’t true about me.

It’s very important for Christians to be honest with God, which often, you know, God is much more interested in who you are than who you want to be.

I just want to be myself.

As much as it might look like, to someone else, that I’m successful, I never feel like I’m anywhere. The further I go, I still feel equally further from my eventual goal. Because as I grow, I get more goals. I’m never content.

Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth to see it like it is, and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.

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

I don’t want followers.

Words are powerful; if you change your words, you can change your life.

The mind of a 19-year-old is very different from the mind of a 26-year-old. You grow. You get into better relationships. You experience more, meet more people, better people. But when you’re in a dark hole at an earlier point in your life – you write about the mindset you’re in at that moment.

It was weird to be married; you kind of lose your identity. You’re suddenly somebody’s wife. And you’re like, ‚Oh, I’m half of a couple now. I’ve lost me.‘

If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.

Where much is expected from an individual, he may rise to the level of events and make the dream come true.

I just feel so much more comfortable and confident every game I play.

I’m not a god – I do bad things.

To be happy we must not be too concerned with others.

I’ve never been an intellectual but I have this look.

When I was married, I definitely went through a lying period.

As human beings, we are all not conducting just one narrative but many narratives all at the same time.

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

Eventually you get to this point where you understand what you want to do and get across and sound like.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.

What’s really hard is that you could care a lot for someone and not want to live with him anymore.

I have to keep improving myself and challenging myself.

When I was younger, I felt pressure to become someone else once I became successful.

I have surrounded myself with very smart people.

Man’s unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his greatness; it is because there is an Infinite in him, which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under the Finite.

You definitely want your kids to understand their heritage, but I don’t want my kids to just focus on being black. They are people. I don’t want them to judge other people or to be judged. I want them to be good people, so good people will treat them accordingly. I preach that to my kids and everything else falls into place.

I had the classic 40 meltdown. I did. It’s embarrassing. It was pretty funny. But then I recovered. To me, it was like a second adolescence. Hormonally, my body was changing, my mind was changing, and so my relationship to myself and the world around me came to this assault of finiteness.

The great quest of life has always been to discover truth.

One must marry one’s feelings to one’s beliefs and ideas. That is probably the only way to achieve a measure of harmony in one’s life.

I just dress like… I’m an old black man. Sorry! Like I’m an old Jewish black man. I just dress like it’s still the ’50s.

When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.

I’m so happy I discovered early how wonderful music makes me feel.

In the fight between you and the world, back the world.

I can never say ‚why‘ about anything I do. I suppose I can say ‚how‘ and ‚when‘ and ‚what.‘ But ‚why‘ is impenetrable to me.

If you haven’t forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others.

What you are comes to you.

Virtue she finds too painful an endeavour, content to dwell in decencies for ever.

You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

Life’s too short to hang out with people who aren’t resourceful.

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

Catering to bad feelings feeds and empowers them.

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.

I’ve never been a jealous person, and I’ve never felt built up by someone else’s failure – that’s a cheap thrill.

My reputation grows with every failure.

In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.