Do not think of your faults, still less of other’s faults; look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.

With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. I’m going to press on for equality. I’m going to press on for the sake of our children. I’m going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I am going to press on.

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.

A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.

It didn’t even occur to me that I’m the last person in the world who should play salsa or Brazilian music.

It is one of the beautiful compensations in this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

As long as you blame someone or something else – something outside you that’s bigger than you are – as the source of your problems, the problems won’t get solved.

You can’t go backward in life.

Sure, I can get a little bit jealous. The good part about jealousy is that it comes from passion. It’s also the dangerous part and it’s an ugly emotion that hurts.

So that’s the dissenter’s hope: that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.

My main goal is to be a self-made man and have control over what’s mine.

The reason that I’m here at all is because of my relationship with my family and their encouragement of me to be a musician and to work hard. As long as I stay there in that space, I can do anything. That’s my truth.

We based the look on rock ‚n roll right from the beginning.

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

Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.

I think you can have 10,000 explanations for failure, but no good explanation for success.

One thing about me is I try to be honest.

I’m only going to stand before God and give an account for my life, not for somebody else’s life. If I have a bad attitude, then I need to say there’s no point in me blaming you for what’s wrong in my life.

Do not be in a hurry to succeed. What would you have to live for afterwards? Better make the horizon your goal; it will always be ahead of you.

Be careless in your dress if you must, but keep a tidy soul.

Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.

I want to rethink ‚surrender‘ as an active verb.

If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.

While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future.

If all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world.

I’m no leader; I’m a little humble follower.

When I was younger, I was testing myself and questioning everything, but now it’s less about that and more about these are the years of my life with my family.

I just think it’s so important not to take yourself too seriously.

It’s a blessing that South Africa has a man like Nelson Mandela.

The truth is, I’ve never fooled anyone. I’ve let men sometimes fool themselves.

There are things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.

The hope, the hope that lives in the breast of the black American, is just so tremendous that it overwhelms me sometimes.

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

I’m an introvert somewhat. There could be a room full of people, I’ll go stand in the corner.

There’s no way to remove the observer – us – from our perceptions of the world.

There are three kinds of intelligence: one kind understands things for itself, the other appreciates what others can understand, the third understands neither for itself nor through others. This first kind is excellent, the second good, and the third kind useless.

In the egoic state, your sense of self, your identity, is derived from your thinking mind – in other words, what your mind tells you about yourself: the storyline of you, the memories, the expectations, all the thoughts that go through your head continuously and the emotions that reflect those thoughts. All those things make up your sense of self.

Getting organized in the normal routines of life and finishing little projects you’ve started is an important first step toward realizing larger goals. If you can’t get a handle on the small things, how will you ever get it together to focus on the big things?

How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as the ears, and such fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain can experience itself anything less than a god.

Water is the driving force of all nature.

I have no delusions about my likability in every scenario. I know that in order to get things done the way you want them, oftentimes your position will be unpopular.

I do believe in the old saying, ‚What does not kill you makes you stronger.‘ Our experiences, good and bad, make us who we are. By overcoming difficulties, we gain strength and maturity.

I had my moments of being humiliated, and then I had moments of doing something humiliating. I’m glad I lived out both roles.

Idleness is the beginning of all vice, the crown of all virtues.

As you think, so shall you become.

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!

I want to be just a pure spiritual leader.

Without tact you can learn nothing.

We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.

Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.

People who don’t know the true character of God – who don’t believe He is merciful, gracious and slow to anger – can never have a close, personal, intimate relationship with Him.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

I really started writing music to challenge myself, to see what I could write.

I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.

I’m not looking to get away from anything. I like what I’ve done. I like what I get to do and I enjoy working with my friends. I loved those movies, but this is incredible.

We are not what we are, nor do we treat or esteem each other for such, but for what we are capable of being.

What interests me in life is curiosity, challenges, the good fight with its victories and defeats.

Why do I not seek some real good; one which I could feel, not one which I could display?

No man was ever great by imitation.