God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another.

Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m not sure a bad person can write a good book, If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for.

If you read enough biography and history, you learn how people have dealt successfully or unsuccessfully with similar situations or patterns in the past. It doesn’t give you a template of answers, but it does help you refine the questions you have to ask yourself.

That nice, soft pillow and the warm blanket, and it’s all comfortable, and no one wants to leave that comfort – but if you can wake up early in the morning, get a head start on everyone else that’s still sleeping, get productive time doing things that you need to do – that’s a huge piece to moving your life forward.

You’re always learning. The problem is, sometimes you stop and think you understand the world. This is not correct. The world is always moving. You never reach the point you can stop making an effort.

There is only one failure in life possible, and that is not to be true to the best one knows.

I think that there is never an indispensable leader, you know? I think that there is a time with dignity that one needs to leave.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

Everyone knows nowadays that people ‚have complexes‘. What is not so well known, though far more important theoretically, is that complexes can have us.

When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate.

Modesty is the color of virtue.

The more people I reach, the more people there are that have opinions about me. Not everyone loves me, but I have to be okay no matter what they think about me.

People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore.

We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves. And we’ll also have a lot more joy in living.

My biggest skill is common sense. I understand life.

It’s very hard to live with yourself if you don’t stick with your moral code.

There are a lot of things I never did, because I believe in watching those true Hollywood stories and I see how easy it is to lose track of your life.

My favorite affirmation when I feel stuck or out of sorts is: Whatever I need is already here, and it is all for my highest good. Jot this down and post it conspicuously throughout your home, on the dashboard of your car, at your office, on your microwave oven, and even in front of your toilets!

My problem was my inability to spend much time at home. I thought my family was secure, so I went running around everyplace else. I guess I had more of an effect on other people’s kids than I did my own.

Without tact you can learn nothing.

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

We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.

Alas, after a certain age every man is responsible for his face.

My life is not to be somebody else’s impact – you know what I mean?

The only thing I know is I ain’t changing my brand. I know what I believe. I’m confident in what I know. And I’m gonna say it. And if folks like it, wonderful. If they don’t like it, I understand.

Yeah, I’m an open book.

If it’s going to come out eventually, better have it come out immediately.

If you’re performing music that is not who you are or where you’re at, it is painful. It’s painful for the performer and for the audience.

When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.

There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.

I realize I don’t do a very good job in keeping up to date, but I try to.

The image is one thing and the human being is another. It’s very hard to live up to an image, put it that way.

One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.

Even if you’re happy with the life you’ve chosen, you’re still curious about the other options.

If you sit there and have that mentality of ‚triple down on what you’re good at,‘ you’re never going to grow. You’re always going to stay the same.

I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.

I’d rather be a victor than a victim.

I accept chaos, I’m not sure whether it accepts me.

When you’re coming up with new material, it’s not always gonna be good. The only way to learn is for it not to get a laugh, so you can adjust it and come back the next day to see if it’s working right. Next time, you might get a different laugh. You’re constantly rebuilding.

I’m not into albums that are meant to sound perfect.

I’m a spokesman for myself. It just so happens that there’s a bunch of people that are concerned with what I have to say. I find that frightening at times because I’m just as confused as most people. I don’t have the answers for anything.

I don’t like it when people who are young act like they’re 40. That’s taking too much on. Putting up a shield and trying to act like you’re so mature or whatever – I don’t try to act mature. Some people might say I’m mature for my age, but it’s not something I’m trying to do, you know? I’m just me.

To be ashamed of one’s immorality: that is a step on the staircase at whose end one is also ashamed of one’s morality.

I periodically realize every few years that the only person whose taste I really trust is me.

The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don’t mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do.

Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.

Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.

It’s easy to forget who you are.

Remember, you can always stoop and pick up nothing.

I’d like to be known for more than being the guy in the big suit.

There’s no reality except the one contained within us. That’s why so many people live an unreal life. They take images outside them for reality and never allow the world within them to assert itself.

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

There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness.

I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.

Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.

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.

Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.

Deep down, I know I have this intuition or instinct that a lot of creative people have, that their demons are also what make them create.

I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life.

Your philosophy determines whether you will go for the disciplines or continue the errors.