Not being afraid to be wrong – I had to learn how to do that.

If you know me, and you call me Stefani, you don’t really know me at all.

The confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord’s mercy motivates us to do better.

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble.

Learning about climate change triggered my depression in the first place. But it was also what got me out of my depression, because there were things I could do to improve the situation. I don’t have time to be depressed anymore.

None of the records I make are ever a deliberate construction – they’re always an expression of who I am at the time and where I am in my life.

I could not do what I do, and teach a class, and never miss a deadline, never be late for anything if I was a lush, OK? I would really love to read a piece that said, ‚He is not a lush.‘ That would be fabulous, it would be a first, I could show it to people and say, ‚Look!‘

I let people fill in the blanks on their own. If they want to think about their ex, that’s fine. If they want to think about maybe who one of my exes is, then that’s fine. And it might not be right, because I’m the only one who knows what these songs are really about. It’s the one shred of privacy I have in the matter.

I always say the strength of democracy lies in criticism. If there is no criticism, that means there is no democracy. And if you want to grow, you must invite criticism. And I want to grow; I want to invite criticism.

We must be our own before we can be another’s.

‚They‘ is… stay away from them, please. There is so many different definitions of ‚they.‘ You might have a personal ‚they.‘ They against you; they want you broken and miserable. They don’t like winners; they don’t like people who’s blessed. So everybody’s got a different ‚they.‘

One thing I want to make clear, as far as my own rebirth is concerned, the final authority is myself and no one else, and obviously not China’s Communists.

I give opinions, not advice.

Whether for life or death, do your own work well.

Well, I wouldn’t say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.

Do your duty and a little more and the future will take care of itself.

Get mad, then get over it.

Joanne‘ is a progression for me. It was about going into the studio and forgetting that I was famous.

You have to just make the choices you make in life. I made the choices I made because I believed they were right for me.

The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.

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.

You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.

We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.

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.

When I write about a 15-year old, I jump, I return to the days when I was that age. It’s like a time machine. I can remember everything. I can feel the wind. I can smell the air. Very actually. Very vividly.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

What is a fear of living? It’s being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take full responsibility for yourself – for the time you take up and the space you occupy. If you don’t know what you’re here to do, then just do some good.

I’m a whopping 5 foot 4 inches tall. I’m not going to get any taller.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.

Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know – and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance.

You cannot push any one up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself.

If you’re not very clever you should be conciliatory.

I have learned that I really do have discipline, self-control, and patience. But they were given to me as a seed, and it’s up to me to choose to develop them.

I think what’s important is for us to decipher what is honest and what is dishonest and be accepting of those things and not operating from fear.

What nourishes me also destroys me.

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!

I’d like to think you don’t stop being creative once you get happy.

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.

Maxim for life: You get treated in life the way you teach people to treat you.

The greatest magnifying glasses in the world are a man’s own eyes when they look upon his own person.

A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.

As a kid from Compton, you can get all the success in the world and still question your worth.

We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

If your inner life is not producing what you would like on the outside, don’t be discouraged… just be willing to change.

Partition is bad. But whatever is past is past. We have only to look to the future.

I love being busy.

We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.

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

Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin.

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.

Courage – you develop courage by doing small things like just as if you wouldn’t want to pick up a 100-pound weight without preparing yourself.

The only real security that a man can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience and ability.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

Today I love myself as I love my god: who could charge me with a sin today? I know only sins against my god; but who knows my god?

The strongest principle of growth lies in the human choice.

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

The thing about Jiu Jitsu is it is also not for everybody. It can be very humiliating and humbling. If you have a hard time dealing with the fact that someone smaller than you may be able to tap you out, it is going to be difficult.

A strong man doesn’t have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn’t match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.

Vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess!