At 50, I began to know who I was. It was like waking up to myself.

When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.

The man who is aware of himself is henceforward independent; and he is never bored, and life is only too short, and he is steeped through and through with a profound yet temperate happiness.

I know what I believe, I know what I want to do, and I’m just comfortable saying it, and laying it out there.

I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up – they have no holidays.

We’re all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the mistakes we may or may not have made.

I have no time to think about other writers. I am too busy with my own problems.

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become.

Libraries raised me.

We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself.

I’m an emotional person.

Truthfully, without over-egging it, as I often do, the library and journalism, those things made me who I am.

Vanity is but the surface.

In past generations, people would try to play younger than they really are. My trick is, I don’t try to play younger than I really am.

I thank God I’m in a position where I can pick and choose – there are some roles I don’t play.

Imaginary evils soon become real one by indulging our reflections on them.

Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life.

Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey ‚people.‘ People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war… Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.

For me, time is the greatest mystery of all. The fact is that we’re dreaming all the time. That’s what really gets me. We have a fathomless lake of unconsciousness just beneath our skulls.

Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune.

I think my vice would be outdoing myself.

Some people are very good at being ‚stars‘ and it suits them. I’m grudging about it and I find it annoying.

I may be no better, but at least I am different.

Where would I be without baseball? Who am I without baseball?

Indecision may or may not be my problem.

I’m crazy and I don’t pretend to be anything else.

It was my delusion and naivety that brought me here.

All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.

I was asked to act when I couldn’t act. I was asked to sing ‚Funny Face‘ when I couldn’t sing, and dance with Fred Astaire when I couldn’t dance – and do all kinds of things I wasn’t prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it.

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

To meditate means to go home to yourself. Then you know how to take care of the things that are happening inside you, and you know how to take care of the things that happen around you.

One mustn’t close one’s eyes to difficulty and to shortcomings; the more one recognizes them, the less they upset one.

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

To remain a credible leader, I must always work first, hardest, and longest on changing myself. This is neither easy nor natural, but it is essential.

Self-knowledge comes from knowing other men.

I like to make people feel happy and superior in their reaction towards my appearance.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

I guess if I’m a product, either you’re chocolate, you’re vanilla or you’re butterscotch. You can’t be all three.

I will not be concerned at other men’s not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability.

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

I say, ‚Yeah, Taylor Swift.‘ I think she is a smart, beautiful girl. I think she’s making all the right moves. She’s got a good head on her shoulders. She’s surrounded with wonderful people. Her songs are great. She keeps herself anchored. She knows who she is, and she’s living and standing by that.

If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.

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?

I write songs about stuff that I can’t really get past personally – and then I write a song about it and I feel better.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

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.

I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.

I think I mainly climb mountains because I get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I never attempt to analyze these things too thoroughly, but I think that all mountaineers do get a great deal of satisfaction out of overcoming some challenge which they think is very difficult for them, or which perhaps may be a little dangerous.

The more successful I become, the more I need a man.

What’s the greater risk? Letting go of what people think – or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?

If you have an enemy, then learn and know your enemy, don’t just be mad at him or her.

I love playing ego and insecurity combined.

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.

Ever since I dated a woman, I know what it is to grab a curve on a woman’s body. Skinny’s not fine when the lights are low.

No one can live without relationship. You may withdraw into the mountains, become a monk, a sannyasi, wander off into the desert by yourself, but you are related. You cannot escape from that absolute fact. You cannot exist in isolation.

Breathe in deeply to bring your mind home to your body. Then look at, or think of, the person triggering this emotion: With mindfulness, you can see that she is unhappy, that she is suffering. You can see her wrong perceptions. You can see that she is not beautiful when she says things that are unkind.

And obviously, from our own personal point of view, the principal challenge is a personal challenge.

I think I’m like most people – we fear the unknown and the things that have yet to come to pass, which are the very things that don’t deserve to be feared. When you give God complete control, it’s very hard not to be fearless.

Some people would like me to be round again.

You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.