Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid, one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

Can the mind see the truth of its own incapacity to know the unknown? Surely if I see very clearly that my mind cannot know the unknown, there is absolute quietness.

The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

Tell the children the truth.

I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.

As a lifestyle you always being the focal point is innately unhealthy.

I can’t tell anybody else how to run their life or their business, but I really believe I’ve got a good bead on myself.

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.

What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.

Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

If you know me, and you call me Stefani, you don’t really know me at all.

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

It doesn’t take much to make me angry.

Tyranny or slavery, born of selfishness, are the two educational methods of parents; all gradations of tyranny or slavery.

When I am playing baseball, I give it all that I have on the ball field. When the ball game is over, I certainly don’t take it home. My little girl who is sitting out there wouldn’t know the difference between a third strike and a foul ball. We don’t talk about baseball at home.

Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.

We should take care not to make the intellect our goal; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

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

A mother takes twenty years to make a man of her boy, and another woman makes a fool of him in twenty minutes.

Many will call me an adventurer – and that I am, only one of a different sort: one of those who risks his skin to prove his platitudes.

Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom.

I think what’s important is for us to decipher what is honest and what is dishonest and be accepting of those things and not operating from fear.

Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? I know no speck so troublesome as self.

The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world.

The coward wretch whose hand and heart Can bear to torture aught below, Is ever first to quail and start From the slightest pain or equal foe.

The Canteen Boy, the reason you feel bad for him and you can laugh is because he, and I guess a lot of my characters, they don’t notice they’re getting made fun of. So they’ll say something back that’s not that great a quip, but in their mind they won the argument.

I think fearless is having fears but jumping anyway.

Buddhism teaches us not to try to run away from suffering. You have to confront suffering. You have to look deeply into the nature of suffering in order to recognize its cause, the making of the suffering.

I’m one of them guys that tries to make everything the best of the best, so sometimes I’m out of control with it.

I always tried to do things by example, even though I was not a very good mother regarding routines and family life.

We need to reject any politics that targets people because of race or religion. This isn’t a matter of political correctness. It’s a matter of understanding what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal; it respects us for our diversity and our openness and the way we respect every faith.

The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosopher’s or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself, and that is why you must know yourself – Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self.

What’s the good of drawing in the next breath if all you do is let it out and draw in another?

See, behind all my tough, rough exterior is basically a marshmallow, maybe a pussycat. But not a wimp!

I want you to be everything that’s you, deep at the center of your being.

I get nervous when I don’t get nervous. If I’m nervous I know I’m going to have a good show.

We’re so trendy we can’t even escape ourselves.

Kids are watching us. I experience it every single day. They hang on my every word, what I wear, what I say.

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

Even the securest financial plan and the finest health coverage aren’t enough to hold us steady when the challenges come… We need something more, something deeper and unshakeable, something that will see us through life’s hard times.

The man who is dissatisfied with himself, what can he do?

It’s flattering to people who stop you and say that you’ve helped them and all. But, again, you know, you’ve got to stay humble because as quick as you came up, you can come down.

A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.

The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision. That’s the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts and fears and made your decision, turn off all your fears and go ahead!

I have never regarded myself as a hero, but Tenzing undoubtedly was.

My mom was a terrible parent of young children. And thank God – I thank God every time I think of it – I was sent to my paternal grandmother. Ah, but my mother was a great parent of a young adult.

As a father and now a grandfather to three wonderful grandchildren, I know how magical the first year of a child’s life is but also how much hard work it takes. Being able to spend as much time as possible with your loved ones is absolutely vital, especially early on.

When you are full of pride on the inside, it makes you stiff, stubborn, and creates strife with others.

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.

If you get your ego in your way, you will only look to other people and circumstances to blame.

If you’re serious, you really understand that it’s important that you laugh as much as possible and admit that you’re the funniest person you ever met. You have to laugh. Admit that you’re funny. Otherwise, you die in solemnity.

I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.

It’s normal for human beings to identify with their own separate self. The problem is that we get caught in that notion of ourself as a separate individual and caught in that individual self’s agenda.

In this business, by the time you realize you’re in trouble, it’s too late to save yourself. Unless you’re running scared all the time, you’re gone.

To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation. But I’m working on the foundation.

We will always tend to fulfill our own expectation of ourselves.

The financial crisis should not become an excuse to raise taxes, which would only undermine the economic growth required to regain our strength.

When we’re looking for compassion, we need someone who is deeply rooted, is able to bend and, most of all, embraces us for our strengths and struggles.

When a child is locked in the bathroom with water running and he says he’s doing nothing but the dog is barking, call 911.

It takes three to make a child.