All ways of living can be sanctified, and for each individual, the ideal way is that to which our Lord leads him through the natural development of his tastes and the pressure of circumstances.

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

You can’t do something forever.

For me, ‚risky‘ is revealing what really happened in my life through music. Risky is writing confessional songs and telling the true story about a person with enough details so everyone knows who that person is.

Love is a better teacher than duty.

I’ve always believed in God. I also think that’s the sort of thing that either comes as part of the equipment, the capacity to believe, or at some point in your life, when you’re in a position where you actually need help from a power greater than yourself, you simply make an agreement.

I know this sounds strange, but as a kid, I was really shy. Painfully shy. The turning point was freshman year, when I was the biggest geek alive. No one, I mean no one, even talked to me.

To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.

To complain is always nonacceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness.

Perfectionists demand perfection from themselves first and foremost.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

I have surrounded myself with very smart people.

My goal is to entertain myself and others.

I was at a New Year’s Eve party, and someone asked me how was my year, and I said, ‚I honestly think 2011 was the best year of my entire life,‘ and I actually meant it.

Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul.

I write for no other purpose than to add to the beauty that now belongs to me. I write a book for no other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent estate.

Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.

I don’t want to just revolve. I want to evolve. As a man, as a human, as a father, as a lover.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

I was always taught not to answer no questions. I’m not really good at answering them because I get agitated so fast.

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.

No political event can be judged outside of the era and the circumstances in which it took place.

You know, it’s not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.

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.

I had a really good childhood up until I was nine, then a classic case of divorce really affected me.

I think, for years, people have been pushed down by religion, and I don’t say that disrespectfully, but they’ve been shown a God that you can’t measure up to.

I am not very good with relationships. With anyone. I can’t be locked up with anyone for too long.

Fear? If I have gained anything by damning myself, it is that I no longer have anything to fear.

No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.

Let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.

I just want to be just as everyone else. I want to educate myself and be just like a normal teenager.

The way I approach this thing, when I started to get my head screwed on straight and really trying to make something of myself as an artist, when I was 19 or 20, it became more about function for me. Like, what is this song doing to you? What is the function of this type of artform? What is it doing?

The ego is only an illusion, but a very influential one. Letting the ego-illusion become your identity can prevent you from knowing your true self. Ego, the false idea of believing that you are what you have or what you do, is a backwards way of assessing and living life.

You can change your world by changing your words… Remember, death and life are in the power of the tongue.

It is more difficult to rule yourself than to rule a city.

The question is not, ‚Do you have a problem?‘ The question is, ‚Does the problem have you?‘

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

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

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

Pick the day. Enjoy it – to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come… The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present – and I don’t want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future.

It is always your next move.

Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.

I know I will never be happy, but I know I can be gay!

I wish everyone well, but you need to focus on yourself. You need to stop putting your hand out. Everyone wants hand outs. Everyone wants things for free. You’ve got to put in the work. You’ve got to grind. You’ve got go through the struggle, and you’ve got to get it.

To the best of my judgment, I have labored for, and not against, the Union. As I have not felt, so I have not expressed any harsh sentiment towards our Southern brethren. I have constantly declared, as I really believed, the only difference between them and us is the difference of circumstances.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.

Well, I was 29 years old when I came to the United States Senate, and I have learned a lot.

The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years but the one with the richest experiences.

For a long time I was scared I’d find out I was like my mother.

It’s easy to get negative because you get beat down. You go through a few disappointments and it’s easy to stay in that negative frame of mind. Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is a whole cliche, but your attitude is going to determine how you’re going to live your life.

I had a period in my life where I decided that I would never be bored again and that, if I had any free time at all, I would make plans, and I would always be doing things. It actually was great for a year or so, but then I lost all of my friends.

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.

I’ve been running a full marathon every year for more than 20 years, and my record is getting worse. Getting older, getting worse. It’s natural.

Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking them.

You can have the platinum album. But, you know, when you still feel like you haven’t quite found your place in the world, it kind of gives a crazy offset.

Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel.

For most of us, wisdom is acquired in the thicket of experience and usually meets us somewhere along the way if we live long enough. But sooner is better than later.

I was always told as a child by my mother that you always have to be impeccable, even when you go to bed.

Love always ends differently and it always begins differently – especially with me.

I’m all about evolution. I’m the first person to judge myself.

The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has.