Character develops itself in the stream of life.

I intend to inspire people with my story: motivate young people that grew up like myself, or even not like myself. Just, you know, go through the human experience.

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

When I was into my 30s, I became increasingly depressed by rejection letters. I had had the feeling that by the time I was 30, I would be established. But I was not at all. By the time of ‚Lives of Girls and Women,‘ I was into my 40s and I had become more thin-skinned.

Some men never feel small, but these are the few men who are.

In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.

I was bullied as a boy – lots of kids are, but hopefully most of us get on with our lives and grow up.

When you realize who you live for, and who’s important to please, a lot of people will actually start living. I am never going to get caught up in that. I’m gonna look back on my life and say that I enjoyed it – and I lived it for me.

Somewhere it is written that parents who are critical of other people’s children and publicly admit they can do better are asking for it.

The highest result of education is tolerance.

You know, most people really don’t know me.

If you keep proving stuff that others have done, getting confidence, increasing the complexities of your solutions – for the fun of it – then one day you’ll turn around and discover that nobody actually did that one!

A lot of people cry and complain and put their hand out and beg. It never goes well.

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.

There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel no one else has a right to blame us.

No matter what, people grow. If you chose not to grow, you’re staying in a small box with a small mindset. People who win go outside of that box. It’s very simple when you look at it.

For me, the world that I inhabit in reality is probably a very different world than the one people expect that I would be in.

One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude.

Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.

Don’t be humble… you’re not that great.

We should all be obliged to appear before a board every five years and justify our existence… on pain of liquidation.

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.

Narrow your life down to this moment. Your life situation may be full of problems – most life situations are – but find out if you have a problem at this moment. Do you have a problem now?

The spirit is there in every boy; it has to be discovered and brought to light.

What nourishes me also destroys me.

That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.

The difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed, and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.

I am not happy, and the quest for happiness as a principal objective is not part of my world. Of course, ever since I can remember, I have done what I felt like doing.

I’m not a person who defends myself very often. I kind of let my actions speak for me.

I used to get into a lot of fights.

It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, ‚always do what you are afraid to do.‘

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

What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.

The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.

Always do what you are afraid to do.

I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It’s a way of life for me.

Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.

The relationship to one’s fellow man is the relationship of prayer, the relationship to oneself is the relationship of striving; it is from prayer that one draws the strength for one’s striving.

Well, I wouldn’t say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.

I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.

My music seems to have a bigger mission than I have, which is very soothing but also very strange because people see more in me than I see, which can be terrifying.

An employer of mine back in the ’80s was kind enough to take me on after a rough patch, and it made a big difference in my life that I knew I was the sort of person who showed up on time. It’s a basic tell of character.

Bottom line is, I didn’t return to Apple to make a fortune. I’ve been very lucky in my life and already have one. When I was 25, my net worth was $100 million or so. I decided then that I wasn’t going to let it ruin my life. There’s no way you could ever spend it all, and I don’t view wealth as something that validates my intelligence.

As I grow up, the lessons I learn in love and relationships and how we treat each other are hopefully maturing – hopefully.

The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized – never knowing.

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.

No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.

I’m not the most patient of people.

I don’t know what drives me to succeed.

I’m not frightened of appearing vulnerable.

Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.

Usually, people have a tendency to be caught in the worries concerning the future or in the regret concerning the past. There is some kind of energy that is pushing them to run, and they are not able to establish themselves in the present moment.

People tend to think that life really does progress for everyone eventually, that people progress, but actually only some people progress. The rest of the people don’t.

If we don’t plant the right things, we will reap the wrong things. It goes without saying. And you don’t have to be, you know, a brilliant biochemist and you don’t have to have an IQ of 150. Just common sense tells you to be kind, ninny, fool. Be kind.

Whatever good things we build end up building us.

Everything I read about hitting a midlife crisis was true. I had such a struggle letting go of youthful things and learning how to exist and have enthusiasm while settling into the comfort of an older age.

Life doesn’t require that we be the best, only that we try our best.

Don’t be afraid to see what you see.

I’ve realized that being happy is a choice. You never want to rub anybody the wrong way or not be fun to be around, but you have to be happy. When I get logical and I don’t trust my instincts – Thats when I get in trouble.