Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.

I went through a period when I felt my film characters were having more fun than I was. It might partly explain why I ended up tattooed or doing certain extreme things in my life.

I feel like I have a job to do, like I constantly have to reinvent myself. The more I up the ante for myself, the better it is in the long run. I try to interact with my fans as much as possible. It’s good that the person I’m being onstage isn’t really an act. It’s really me.

Somewhere deep down there’s a decent man in me, he just can’t be found.

The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days.

You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.

For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.

Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.

The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.

When I was younger, I felt pressure to become someone else once I became successful.

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

What you put into life is what you get out of it.

Discontent, blaming, complaining, self-pity cannot serve as a foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make.

Why should it be essential to love rarely in order to love much?

Timidity makes a person modest. It makes him or her say, ‚I’m not worthy of being written up in the record of deeds in heaven or on earth.‘ Timidity keeps people from their good. They are afraid to say, ‚Yes, I deserve it.‘

God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner.

To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one age. ‚Tis much better to do a little with certainty & leave the rest for others that come after you.

We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay – and rise!

Some people, they take their form of working out as a religion that they think is better than everyone else’s. I’m not like that. If you have a better way to work out, and you can teach it to me, and I find it to be useful and gets me in better shape, I’m all about.

Believing in progress does not mean believing that any progress has yet been made.

Childhood is the sleep of reason.

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

I more fear what is within me than what comes from without.

At 155, I will be the same animal, an even better animal.

Against my will, in the course of my travels, the belief that everything worth knowing was known at Cambridge gradually wore off. In this respect my travels were very useful to me.

I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business.

Critics only make you stronger. You have to look at what they are saying as feedback. Sometimes the feedback helps, and other times, it’s just noise that can be a distraction.

Academic qualifications are important and so is financial education. They’re both important and schools are forgetting one of them.

How one life turns out is not dependent on what people do to us or what they don’t do for us.

I’m not a regrets-type person.

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

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble.

Self-worth comes from one thing – thinking that you are worthy.

No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.

I think and that is all that I am.

Education is hanging around until you’ve caught on.

But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That’s what I strive to do, that’s what I pray to do every day.

If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him.

Don’t be afraid to see what you see.

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.

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.

Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.

Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering – because you can’t take it in all at once.

I hope not to define myself by suffering.

I could never identify with that word, ‚weak.‘

I liked his ability to deal with a lot of the negativity that surrounded him. Even though he was in a world that he didn’t want to be in, he still saw the bigger picture.

My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.

If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground.

To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.

True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance.

I used to have a real problem with self-pity. Every time the devil would throw a pity party, I would attend.

I think happiness is a goal all of us can agree on. Let’s face it – we all would like to be happy.

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.

There is, so I believe, in the essence of everything, something that we cannot call learning. There is, my friend, only a knowledge – that is everywhere.

Solitude is independence.

Military school was great and especially great for leadership and then I spent two years in Vietnam.

I’ve always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.

You make yourself broad. You make yourself appealing. ‚Hey, y’all, I’m cool with everybody.‘ That’s my message.

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.

A lot of people tell me a lot of things about my conduct, my game, my future… but I try to stay away from their words of wisdom. I don’t let it distract me. On the field, you will be facing the ball alone. If you fail, you will the only one to blame. So, you should be the one deciding for yourself.

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened by anyone’s perception of me.