A person who is truly authentic doesn’t need to play a role in life, we think, but can simply be him – or herself.

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.

I have always been that girl in the back who doesn’t say anything.

I used to worry about every little thing, trying to figure out every problem. Well, I realize now how foolish that was. I was no more in control of my life than the man on the moon.

I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That’s my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it’s not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.

A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others.

When I did have some success, it further emboldens you to be like, ‚No, I’m just going to write what I feel I should write.‘

Modesty is a learned affectation. And as soon as life slams the modest person against the wall, that modesty drops.

Travel teaches toleration.

If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.

The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.

I’m a free spirit.

The people of Northern Ireland have sorted out my whole life.

Follow your honest convictions and be strong.

You don’t have the same mentality as you did five years ago – even one year. People are always changing, and I believe that everyone deserves the space to change and for people to recognize their change.

It is better to do one’s own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins.

Few men would dare to read their own autobiography if all their deeds were recorded in it; few can look back upon their entire career without a blush.

It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Live the life you’ve dreamed.

I look like a woman, but I think like a man.

I feel confident imposing change on myself. It’s a lot more fun progressing than looking back. That’s why I need to throw curve balls.

Something I’ve realized lately, to my shock, is that I am an optimist, in that I think humans are almost infinitely capable of self-change and self-modification, and that we really can build the future that we want if we’re smart about it.

When I was in college I did a lot of stupid things and I don’t want to make an excuse for that. Some of the things that people accuse me of are true, some of them aren’t. There are pranks, IMs.

Although the circumstances of our lives may seem very disengaged, with me standing here as the First Lady of the United States of America and you just getting through school, I want you to know we have very much in common. For nothing in my life ever would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first African-American First Lady.

I was poor white trash, no glitter, no glamour, but I’m not ashamed of anything.

If you’re living in your time, you cannot help but to write about the things that are important.

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

I’ve experienced great things, I’ve experienced great tragedies. I’ve done almost everything I could possibly ever imagine doing, but I just know that there’s more.

We grow older, but we do not change. We become more sophisticated, but at bottom we continue to resemble our young selves, eager to listen to the next story and the next, and the next.

Every movie I make teaches me something. That’s why I keep making them.

I suppose for a very long time I’ve been trying to understand how it is that people might make sense out of their lives and make meaning and make their lives meaningful in the face of the trouble that life brings.

I guess I’m living in the present more than the past.

I never thought I would be such a family-oriented guy; I didn’t think that was part of my makeup. But somebody said that as you get older, you become the person you always should have been, and I feel that’s happening to me.

Before you try to keep up with the Joneses, be sure they’re not trying to keep up with you.

You are not a problem that needs solving.

Some days I totally appreciate everything that’s happening to me, and some days I feel everyone’s waiting for me to mess up.

Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.

Key is never be afraid of being yourself. Never!

These things bring you to reality as to how fragile you are; at the same moment you are doing something that nobody else is able to do. The same moment that you are seen as the best, the fastest and somebody that cannot be touched, you are enormously fragile.

People tend to play in their comfort zone, so the best things are achieved in a state of surprise, actually.

I have had fun being who I became, so to speak.

Follow that will and that way which experience confirms to be your own.

You know how advice is. You only want it if it agrees with what you wanted to do anyway.

Sometimes I feel like being an intellectual. Sometimes I like to just be aggressive and all the way in my feelings. Sometimes I might be emotional, or sometimes I might drag on the track and be lazy. I just like to share the different states of existence of Kevin Gates with the rest of the world.

I think the worst part about a breakup sometimes, if one could choose a worst part, would possibly be if you get out of a relationship, and you don’t recognize yourself because you changed a lot about you.

Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me is a matter of profound wonder.

I’m a writer, and I will write what I want to write.

I wake up in the morning and my mind starts making sentences, and I have to get rid of them fast – talk them or write them down.

It was my delusion and naivety that brought me here.

Egos are never nice. I have been a victim of it a lot of times in my career. Whenever I have used it, I have failed.

In writing, I apply my feminine side and respect the mystery involved in creation.

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.

Anything I’ve ever said, I certainly was feeling at the time.

We are wiser than we know.

My priority is my books, at least at this point. What I have to do is write the narrative of this time.

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 grew up in a funny way.

I am never satisfied with myself and that is what keeps me going – I have no post-satisfaction.

The highest result of education is tolerance.

I feel like when I try to fit in, it comes across as not genuine, and that is not good. I’d rather just do me and have people say, ‚Oh. That’s interesting,‘ than try to fit in.