A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.

All my life I’ve looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.

I really don’t pay attention to the outside world when I’m incarcerated, because being in prison is like being in a different world. So I don’t pay attention to what’s going on outside of jail, because it’s all beyond my control.

People who think you could wave a magic wand and the legacy of the past will be over are blind.

Before the effect one believes in different causes than one does after the effect.

I think any life can be interesting, any surroundings can be interesting. I don’t think I could have been so brave if I had been living in a town, competing with people on what can be called a generally higher cultural level.

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.

Applause is a receipt, not a bill.

I have a hard time figuring out what kind of box to put me in, too, because I don’t know exactly what’s going on around me or why. But I need to stay outside of boxes because then I can look at what’s inside of them without being part of them.

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Things are as they are. Looking out into it the universe at night, we make no comparisons between right and wrong stars, nor between well and badly arranged constellations.

Little things affect little minds.

Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough.

Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.

Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world; but it is impossible to foresee this, it is impossible to be warned.

If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.

I always was a rich person because money’s not related to happiness.

The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.

We have communion with Christ in His thoughts, views, and purposes; for His thoughts are our thoughts according to our capacity and sanctity. Believers take the same view of matters as Jesus does; that which pleases Him pleases them, and that which grieves His grieves them also.

I grew up with the biologists. I know how they think.

God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.

Do everything as in the eye of another.

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

If people think nature is their friend, then they sure don’t need an enemy.

If pleasures are greatest in anticipation, just remember that this is also true of trouble.

Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.

Lo, what huge heaps of littleness around!

The idea is to try to give all the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.

It’s not the destination that matters. It’s the change of scene.

I was looking for something a lot heavier, yet melodic at the same time. Something different from heavy metal, a different attitude.

Our lifelong certainties about the world can be demolished in a single second.

Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.

I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.

Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past the centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the other; and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true point at which it can remain at rest.

Changing is not just changing the things outside of us. First of all we need the right view that transcends all notions including of being and non-being, creator and creature, mind and spirit. That kind of insight is crucial for transformation and healing.

What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.

I tend to believe that audiences are relatively well-balanced people.

On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done as easily lying down .

It is not your paintings I like, it is your painting.

For me, money is not my definition of success. Inspiring people is a definition of success.

A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is.

If it’s a penny for your thoughts and you put in your two cents worth, then someone, somewhere is making a penny.

Choosing an attitude of faith will release peace out of your spirit and into your soul.

Men can only be happy when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.

I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.

The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.

The eye of a human being is a microscope, which makes the world seem bigger than it really is.

People in tough times – it doesn’t mean they don’t have a great attitude.

We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. The teaching of the church is clear, and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time.

Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.

Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do.

I’m an introvert… I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, the sky.

I’d rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned… a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.

It is not length of life, but depth of life.

They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.

The frontier between hell and heaven is only the difference between two ways of looking at things.

A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don’t ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren’t blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.

The wise are wise only because they love. The fool are fools only because they think they can understand love.

Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.