At 30 a man should know himself like the palm of his hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures – be what he is. And, above all, accept these things.

There’s a part of you – the born-again part, your spirit – that’s dead to sin. That’s why it bothers you now when you sin. The ‚wilderness‘ part of you – your soul – is your unrenewed mind, out-of-control emotions, and stubborn will.

I was in a terrible mess in my childhood.

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.

If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.

Nobody can ever say that being negative ever helped them at all – not in any way.

I am a child but I have to think and act like a woman, this business forces you to.

Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.

Because of its phantom nature, and despite elaborate defense mechanisms, the ego is very vulnerable and insecure, and it sees itself as constantly under threat. This, by the way, is the case even if the ego is outwardly very confident.

I think there is a sense of being forced at this time to look at America’s really large shadow and that’s not all that bad.

Keep in mind that no matter how perfectly you get your life in order, you will never be rid of all your problems. Problems are a way of life, always have been, always will be. But how you elect to view those problems is all up to you.

I’m not a natural born performer.

One thing I want to make clear, as far as my own rebirth is concerned, the final authority is myself and no one else, and obviously not China’s Communists.

An alcoholic is someone you don’t like who drinks as much as you do.

Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.

I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.

In this business you have to develop a thick skin, but I’m always going to feel everything. It’s my nature.

Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.

Pride is an independent, me-oriented spirit. It makes people arrogant, rude and hard to get along with. When our heart is prideful, we don’t give God the credit and we mistreat people, looking down on them and thinking we deserve what we have.

I always say the strength of democracy lies in criticism. If there is no criticism, that means there is no democracy. And if you want to grow, you must invite criticism. And I want to grow; I want to invite criticism.

Reality has a way of intruding. Reality eventually intrudes on everything.

There are few things more dreadful than dealing with a man who knows he is going under, in his own eyes, and in the eyes of others. Nothing can help that man. What is left of that man flees from what is left of human attention.

I’m only going to stand before God and give an account for my life, not for somebody else’s life. If I have a bad attitude, then I need to say there’s no point in me blaming you for what’s wrong in my life.

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

Be smarter than other people, just don’t tell them so.

Keep your nose out the sky, keep your heart to god, and keep your face to the raising sun.

Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.

Prayer doesn’t just change things – it changes us. If we are diligent in seeking God, slowly and surely we become better people.

I want to put a ding in the universe.

No man likes to have his intelligence or good faith questioned, especially if he has doubts about it himself.

The book you don’t read won’t help.

My fans saw me get engaged, saw me make that woman my wife, me having kids, me divorcing, me talking about divorce before the divorce, me talking about my kids‘ reaction to that divorce.

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

When I was a youngster I lived with different families. I nearly always felt closer to the man of the house. Maybe because I always dreamed of having a father of my own.

Life well spent is long.

When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn’t a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.

I feel the emotion that life conjures up and the songs I write get me closer to my feelings and realising who I am. It’s a natural process.

Today I love myself as I love my god: who could charge me with a sin today? I know only sins against my god; but who knows my god?

In this big ball of people, I’m just one grain of sand on this beach.

I’ve always felt quite singular, even as a child. That I must stay on track to keep my purpose.

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.

It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.

Take a course in good water and air; and in the eternal youth of Nature you may renew your own. Go quietly, alone; no harm will befall you.

Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

Time is compressed like the fist I close on my knee… I hold inside it the clues and solutions and the power for what I must do now.

My philosophy is: It’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me.

And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.

Many people have an intense feeling about what they’re best at. Too often, they’re driven away from it by other people.

The quote-unquote ‚description‘ of a leading man was once your tall, handsome man with the build of whatever, almost a trophy to some degree. I think now it’s about making a leading man what you want a leading man to be. In this day, you can’t deny talent. You look at Jonah Hill, you look at Zach Galifianakis, you look at myself.

You might not always get what you want, but you always get what you expect.

I disagree with everything I used to say.

I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.

You’re looking at a middle-class guy. I am who I am.

I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.

A strong man doesn’t have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn’t match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.

It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.

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.

I think, when you are growing up, you have to pull apart from what your mother wants or needs. You’ve got to go your own way, and that’s what I did.

It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.

Most people already know what they’re doing wrong. When I get them to church I want to tell them that you can change.