Consider, when you are enraged at any one, what you would probably think if he should die during the dispute.

I do not believe there is a problem in this country or the world today which could not be settled if approached through the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.

The idea is to try to give all the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.

Wars based on principle are far more destructive… the attacker will not destroy that which he is after.

A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants.

Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world.

Truth has rough flavours if we bite it through.

Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself.

We should not look at terrorism from the nameplates – which group they belong to, what is their geographical location, who are the victims. These individual groups or names will keep changing.

There is no king who has not had a slave among his ancestors, and no slave who has not had a king among his.

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.

It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily lives. If we find we cannot help others, the least we can do is to desist from harming them.

Without deep reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.

Sometimes there are no good guys. There are no bad guys. It seems like everybody is in the middle.

It may be, it just may be, that life as we know it with its humanity is more unique than many have thought.

If you must speak ill of another, do not speak it, write it in the sand near the water’s edge.

Intervention only works when the people concerned seem to be keen for peace.

We enjoy the process far more than the proceeds.

Tears come from the heart and not from the brain.

War does not determine who is right – only who is left.

Old men are dangerous: it doesn’t matter to them what is going to happen to the world.

So when you are listening to somebody, completely, attentively, then you are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it.

I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?

Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other.

Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength.

No such thing as a man willing to be honest – that would be like a blind man willing to see.

It is only when the rich are sick that they fully feel the impotence of wealth.

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.

In all private quarrels the duller nature is triumphant by reason of dullness.

What is history but a fable agreed upon?

I’m seeing the world partially through the eyes of a kid. Not all the time. There’s no black and white to it. But sometimes I’m seeing it like I’m 4.

A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer’s hand.

We should not fight wars without a clearly defined end state… when you go to war, it can’t be a half-step.

You are the universe, you aren’t in the universe.

Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic and political barriers. But first they have to understand that their neighbour is, in the end, just like them, with the same problems, the same questions.

Contrary to the claims of some of my critics and some of the editorial pages, I am an ardent believer in the free market.

I’m more of a realist when it comes to life, and I’d much rather my mother be in a spiritual place in Heaven than in a bed, sick, fighting for her life.

I just get annoyed at myself. A lot of swearing goes on generally when I am driving.

Your own soul is nourished when you are kind; it is destroyed when you are cruel.

We just cannot worry about ourselves.

I know now that there is no one thing that is true – it is all true.

Experience which was once claimed by the aged is now claimed exclusively by the young.

A man will speedily sit down and sympathize with a friend’s griefs, but if he sees him honored and esteemed, he is apt to regard him as a rival and does not so readily rejoice with him. This ought not to be; without effort, we ought to be happy in our brother’s happiness.

We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

When I write, it’s like choosing which shoes I’m going to put on. More often than not, my lyrics are personal – but I sometimes have to put myself in other people’s shoes.

I like some animals more than some people, some people more than some animals.

More helpful than all wisdom is one draught of simple human pity that will not forsake us.

I used to get into a lot of fights.

Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.

Everything is funny, as long as it’s happening to somebody else.

One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.

If we want to fight people in the world, we should fight them with pillows – pillows stuffed with food, medicine, music… That would be so much cheaper than bombs.

Applause is a receipt, not a bill.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

A pessimist? That’s a person who has been intimately acquainted with an optimist.

People have been fed this diet of pabulum, rights, and impulsive freedom. There’s just an absolute starvation for the other side of the story.

Being happy is a matter of personal taste.

Our lifelong certainties about the world can be demolished in a single second.

I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.

I didn’t die young. So I am very lucky. There are other artists and people that didn’t survive certain things… people can imagine that I did the most dangerous, and I did the worst… for many reasons, I shouldn’t be here.