Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.

Every breath we take, every step we make, can be filled with peace, joy and serenity.

When you take your attention into the present moment, a certain alertness arises. You become more conscious of what’s around you, but also, strangely, a sense of presence that is both within and without.

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

Basically you have to suppress your own ambitions in order to be who you need to be.

Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.

I’ve had no problem harnessing anger.

Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.

I’m not interested in more political or cultural combat.

Every human being is under construction from conception to death.

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.

One of my goals from really early on was that if I was ever fortunate enough to be successful in music, I would want to stay the same person and the same songwriter.

I was always taught not to answer no questions. I’m not really good at answering them because I get agitated so fast.

To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it.

Experience does not err. Only your judgments err by expecting from her what is not in her power.

With mindfulness, you can establish yourself in the present in order to touch the wonders of life that are available in that moment.

I was in my late thirties when my eyes were opened to truth in God’s Word that showed me I wasn’t living the abundant life Jesus died for me to have. I had a very negative mindset and was miserable most of the time because of the abuse I had experienced throughout my childhood.

My dad seemed comfortable with his decision to be a ‚have-not,‘ but I knew that I wasn’t.

I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.

Maybe other people will try to limit me but I don’t limit myself.

The deepest desire of the human spirit is to be acknowledged.

If you’re going to be a winner in life, you have to constantly go beyond your best.

In my younger days, I was trying to write sophisticated prose and fantastic stories.

Never say anything about yourself you do not want to come true.

I always keep my guard up with guys and I guess that can get in the way sometimes. I can make them go through hell.

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?‘

Peace begins with a smile.

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure on the world.

I don’t see the point of doing an interview unless you’re going to share the things you learn in life and the mistakes you make. So to admit that I’m extremely human and have done some dark things I don’t think makes me unusual or unusually dark. I think it actually is the right thing to do, and I’d like to think it’s the nice thing to do.

I love my friends and my past, and it’s made me who I am.

In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats – maybe it’s imperative that we encounter the defeats – but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be. Human beings are more alike than unalike.

You may either win your peace or buy it: win it, by resistance to evil; buy it, by compromise with evil.

The best thing I did was to choose the right heroes.

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

I’m not intelligent. I’m not arrogant. I’m just like the people who read my books. I used to have a jazz club, and I made the cocktails and I made the sandwiches. I didn’t want to become a writer – it just happened.

I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That’s my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it’s not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.

All we are saying is give peace a chance.

When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.

Always do whatever’s next.

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.

When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.

The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.

I brought myself down. I impeached myself by resigning.

Your timeless self does not age and has no fear of the future. Contemplate your physical self and all its possessions, and practice laughing peacefully at it all.

I’ve noticed a terrible thing, which is I will agree to anything if it’s far enough in the future.

Sometimes I just sit still and enjoy God’s presence.

In my later years, I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back. Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I’ve worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior.

I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.

There’s room for role models who make mistakes.

I’m totally myself.

Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those who could make a good peace would never have won the war.

Do whatever you will, but first be such as are able to will.

I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.

I walk tall; I got a tall attitude.

There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.

It is only to the individual that a soul is given.

I love playing ego and insecurity combined.

To remain a credible leader, I must always work first, hardest, and longest on changing myself. This is neither easy nor natural, but it is essential.

I can never say ‚why‘ about anything I do. I suppose I can say ‚how‘ and ‚when‘ and ‚what.‘ But ‚why‘ is impenetrable to me.

I’m sure the feeling of fear, as long as you can take advantage of it and not be rendered useless by it, can make you extend yourself beyond what you would regard as your capacity. If you’re afraid, the blood seems to flow freely through the veins, and you really do feel a sense of stimulation.