I let the American people down.

There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.

I write for myself things that I’ve gone through.

I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given. I believed in myself, and I believe in the goodness of others.

Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. I feel stronger for confession.

I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have.

Always fall in with what you’re asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever’s going. Not against: with.

I’m working at trying to be a Christian, and that’s serious business. It’s like trying to be a good Jew, a good Muslim, a good Buddhist, a good Shintoist, a good Zoroastrian, a good friend, a good lover, a good mother, a good buddy – it’s serious business.

In retrospect, I can see I couldn’t talk to people face to face, so I got on stage and started screaming and squealing and twitching about. Ha! Like, that sure made sense!

You have to like the present; if not your life becomes secondhand, if you think it was better before. Or that it will be better in the future.

The more you seek the uncomfortable, the more you will become comfortable.

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

Yeah, I was a delinquent. It was when I was in the ninth grade. I was doing stupid stuff, and the cops came into the class. I was humiliated more than anything.

Why do I not seek some real good; one which I could feel, not one which I could display?

‚Victory‘ is like, you won, so the question is, what? What did you win? I think that the songs go into that. It’s just about reaching a place in myself.

God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are.

I do all the evil I can before I learn to shun it? Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

I gather from motivation around me – from a lot of personalities who have done well in their respective fields.

If you’ve lost your spirit, even living in the richest country in the world can’t help you become rich.

I grew up in a funny way.

Whatever talents I possess may suddenly diminish or suddenly increase. I can with ease become an ordinary fool. I may be one now. But it doesn’t do to upset one’s own vanity.

When I was making the early stuff, I never expected it to be so big. I was in my own kind of bubble. I never wanted to tour; I just wanted to create music and make a diary I could put out into the world. And sometimes, I became the characters.

Spending time with God through prayer and His Word is a prerequisite for having a great life and fulfilling your purpose.

New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.

I was brought up to try to see what was wrong and right it. Since I am a writer, writing is how I right it.

It were a real increase of human happiness, could all young men from the age of nineteen be covered under barrels, or rendered otherwise invisible; and there left to follow their lawful studies and callings, till they emerged, sadder and wiser, at the age of twenty-five.

So many people live with anger and unforgiveness, and many of them are Christians.

People say you have to hit rock bottom, and, I can tell you, almost dying is as rock bottom as it gets.

When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn’t a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.

I was a kind of hyper-intense person in my twenties and very impatient.

When I first went to places where people were suffering from war and persecution, I felt ashamed of my feelings of sadness. I could see more possibilities in my life.

How many things there are concerning which we might well deliberate whether we had better know them.

What starts the process, really, are laughs and slights and snubs when you are a kid. If your anger is deep enough and strong enough, you learn that you can change those attitudes by excellence, personal gut performance.

Don’t blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive.

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.

The person you consider ignorant and insignificant is the one who came from God, that he might learn bliss from grief and knowledge from gloom.

I never hold a grudge.

To accuse others for one’s own misfortunes is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one’s education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one’s education is complete.

I resigned from the Marine Corps and flying in 1974, even though I loved them both. I quit because I no longer wanted to fight for peace. Instead, I believe we can build a more sustainable peace by working for prosperity.

Sadly, the truth is, there aren’t many people who can be put in high positions who won’t start thinking highly of themselves.

What interests me in life is curiosity, challenges, the good fight with its victories and defeats.

Listening to and understanding our inner sufferings will resolve most of the problems we encounter.

I think I lived those years very impersonally. It was almost as though I had erected someone outside myself who was the president’s wife. I was lost somewhere deep down inside myself. That is the way I felt and worked until I left the White House.

I was raised in a family where vulnerability was barely tolerated: no training wheels on our bicycles, no goggles in the pool, just get it done. And so I grew up not only with discomfort about my own vulnerability, I didn’t care for it in other people either.

I don’t care if people I admire criticize me because their opinion is valuable to me.

I used to stutter really badly. Everybody thinks it’s funny. And it’s not funny. It’s not.

In my work and in myself I reflect black people, women and men, as I reflect others. One day even the most self-protective ones will look into the mirror I provide and not be afraid.

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.

Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.

I’m not afraid to look like an idiot.

In past generations, people would try to play younger than they really are. My trick is, I don’t try to play younger than I really am.

We work to become, not to acquire.

Who can exhaust a man? Who knows a man’s resources?

Sports are such a great teacher. I think of everything they’ve taught me: camaraderie, humility, how to resolve differences.

My experience has been that work is almost the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.

Not what I have, but what I do is my kingdom.

Forgiveness is not a feeling – it’s a decision we make because we want to do what’s right before God. It’s a quality decision that won’t be easy and it may take time to get through the process, depending on the severity of the offense.

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.

Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.

Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life.