A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.

At the core, one of my original goals is to redefine what the streets expect.

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.

Perception often lags behind reality, and I can say from experience that the vast majority of public officials in Louisiana are much better than our reputation holds us to be.

Every artist was first an amateur.

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.

Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.

By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.

There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.

When it’s your time, it is your time.

As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.

We are born, so to speak, twice over; born into existence, and born into life; born a human being, and born a man.

There are a lot of ‚chicken Christians.‘ Chickens are generally afraid of life, and they seldom fly or reach their potential in life. And when a storm comes, all they seem to do is flap around the chicken yard, stirring up dirt and running to the chicken house.

Culture is the process by which a person becomes all that they were created capable of being.

I’ve been fortunate to have had the life I had prior to Hollywood. I wasn’t starving; I was going to eat the next day.

I think we need more idiot control.

Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.

Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.

Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.

People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.

A fit body gives you confidence. And there’s nothing more impressive than a great attitude, which you can wear on your sleeve. But you’ll have to remember the difference between being rude and being confident.

Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg.

Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.

The well bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.

When a team takes ownership of its problems, the problem gets solved. It is true on the battlefield, it is true in business, and it is true in life.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

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

Sweet is the memory of past troubles.

Life is an unanswered question, but let’s still believe in the dignity and importance of the question.

The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.

If you want a quality, act as if you already had it.

I used to read five psalms every day – that teaches me how to get along with God. Then I read a chapter of Proverbs every day and that teaches me how to get along with my fellow man.

Fame and power are the objects of all men. Even their partial fruition is gained by very few; and that, too, at the expense of social pleasure, health, conscience, life.

For a young person, it is almost a sin, or at least a danger, to be too preoccupied with himself; but for the ageing person, it is a duty and a necessity to devote serious attention to himself.

Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement.

My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them.

There’s something about being in front of a live audience that’s fun. It’s a really interesting, very electric, very alive, and intense experience, and you can’t get it anywhere else. And I’ve been doing it since I was 23, so it’s part of my being – it’s part of my fabric as a person.

Reproach is shame, blame, disgrace, disapproval and a disrespectful attitude toward yourself. When you’re under reproach, your behavior shows it.

One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.

I still wanna rap better than everybody else, and I wanna say important things.

To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.

If you like it you should enjoy it! Moderation in everything. If there’s things you really love, you should enjoy. You get one life, so you should enjoy it.

The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.

I mean we all need a second chance sometimes.

I’ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.

Once you start doing only what you’ve already proven you can do, you’re on the road to death.

The worst enemy of life, freedom and the common decencies is total anarchy; their second worst enemy is total efficiency.

People need motivation to do anything. I don’t think human beings learn anything without desperation.

Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears.

For me, it’s about the way I carry myself and the way I treat other people. My relationship and how I feel about God and what He does for me, is something deeply personal. It’s where I came from, my family, I was brought up in a religious household and that’s very important to me.

Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive – that you can touch the miracle of being alive – then that is a kind of enlightenment.

I was never ignorant, as far as being experienced in classrooms and learning about different subjects and actually soaking it up, so I checked into college for a little bit. I took classes at a community college in West L.A. I took psychology, English, and philosophy.

I am just one human being.

The best way to sell yourself to others is first to sell the others to yourself.

Once you get into this great stream of history, you can’t get out.

Good men by nature, wish to know. I know that many will call this useless work… men who desire nothing but material riches and are absolutely devoid of that of wisdom, which is the food and only true riches of the mind.

No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.