Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.

No one should be ashamed to admit he is wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.

Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.

At one point I learned transcendental meditation. This was 30-something years ago. It took me back to the way that I naturally was as a child growing up way in the country, rarely seeing people. I was in that state of oneness with creation and it was as if I didn’t exist except as a part of everything.

From my perspective, I absolutely believe in a greater spiritual power, far greater than I am, from which I have derived strength in moments of sadness or fear. That’s what I believe, and it was very, very strong in the forest.

Relish everything that’s inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.

Every human being is under construction from conception to death.

The more I grow in popularity, the lonelier it gets. Because you don’t really know me. You just know this part of me. You fell in love with that. But it’s way more intricate than what meets the surface.

I’ve been running a full marathon every year for more than 20 years, and my record is getting worse. Getting older, getting worse. It’s natural.

For me, it’s about the way I carry myself and the way I treat other people. My relationship and how I feel about God and what He does for me, is something deeply personal. It’s where I came from, my family, I was brought up in a religious household and that’s very important to me.

I have a personal ambition to live my life honestly and honor the true love that I’ve had and also the people I’ve had around me.

I have so much in my life. I want to be of value to the world.

Religious faith, like political belief, should be based on reasoning, on the development of thought and feelings. The two things are inseparable.

You can live your life angry, bitter, mad at somebody or even guilty, not letting go of your own mistakes, but you won’t receive the good things God has in store.

I suppose for a very long time I’ve been trying to understand how it is that people might make sense out of their lives and make meaning and make their lives meaningful in the face of the trouble that life brings.

It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.

Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.

Sexuality is one of the ways that we become enlightened, actually, because it leads us to self-knowledge.

Not being afraid to be wrong – I had to learn how to do that.

To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.

I’d like to be known for more than being the guy in the big suit.

People tend to play in their comfort zone, so the best things are achieved in a state of surprise, actually.

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

Things won are done, joy’s soul lies in the doing.

We rarely confide in those who are better than we are.

I was married a few times, and one of my husbands was jealous of me writing.

My father wasn’t around when I was a kid, and I used to always say, ‚Why me? Why don’t I have a father? Why isn’t he around? Why did he leave my mother?‘ But as I got older I looked deeper and thought, ‚I don’t know what my father was going through, but if he was around all the time, would I be who I am today?‘

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

One of the huge imbalances in life is the disparity between your daily existence, with its routines and habits, and the dream you have within yourself of some extraordinarily satisfying way of living.

My overall look on things is a lot more mature than it used to be.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

I don’t think I’m an unlucky person.

Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.

Lots of songs aren’t even from my experiences, but they’re about accepting… the dark things about yourself.

A happy family is but an earlier heaven.

I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and… I believe in miracles.

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give.

Before finding music, I didn’t have too many aspirations. I wanted to hang out, make a little money from whatever I had to do.

Only you can control your future.

It is a strange desire, to seek power, and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man’s self.

People look to time in expectation that it will eventually make them happy, but you cannot find true happiness by looking toward the future.

A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is.

Control your own destiny! Control your own destiny!

Just try new things. Don’t be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar, all right?

If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

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

Listen with your eyes for feelings.

I’ve always kinda been a little outcast myself, a little oddball, doin‘ my thing, my own way. And it’s been hard for me to, to be accepted, certainly in the early years of my life.

My belief is that we were put into this world of wonders and beauty with a special ability to appreciate them, in some cases to have the fun of taking a hand in developing them, and also in being able to help other people instead of overreaching them and, through it all, to enjoy life – that is, to be happy.

The most challenging project I’ve ever done, I think, is every single thing I’ve ever tried to do. It’s never easy.

In my case Pilgrim’s Progress consisted in my having to climb down a thousand ladders until I could reach out my hand to the little clod of earth that I am.

Our words will either bring life and victory or death and destruction. If we want to be happy, we have to be serious about speaking words of life that line up with God’s Word.

I never took a day off in my twenties. Not one. And I’m still fanatical, but now I’m a little less fanatical.

Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.

If the people are happy, united, wealthy, and powerful, we presume the rest. We conclude that to be good from whence good is derived.

I worked with someone who told me they’d never like me. But for some reason, I just felt like I needed her approval. So I started changing myself to please her. It made me stop being social and friendly. I was so unhappy.

No, I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.