Every human being is under construction from conception to death.

Satan is wiser now than before, and tempts by making rich instead of poor.

It is the nature of every person to error, but only the fool perseveres in error.

I don’t have any secrets I need kept any more.

The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances.

No one gets away with anything, ever, so take responsibility for your own life.

When something an affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it.

I already am a product.

You can’t be happy by doing something groovy.

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.

I want to do a certain thing in the world, and I am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies.

Baseball changes through the years. It gets milder.

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.

We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.

I’m just going to say it: I’m pro-guilt. Guilt is good. Guilt helps us stay on track because it’s about our behavior. It occurs when we compare something we’ve done – or failed to do – with our personal values.

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

I never wanted to be Marilyn – it just happened. Marilyn’s like a veil I wear over Norma Jeane.

I was ironing my own clothes when I was 11 years old. My mental strength goes back to those days.

To reform a world, to reform a nation, no wise man will undertake; and all but foolish men know, that the only solid, though a far slower reformation, is what each begins and perfects on himself.

Know thyself? If I knew myself I would run away.

The more man meditates upon good thoughts, the better will be his world and the world at large.

The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosopher’s or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself, and that is why you must know yourself – Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self.

Didn’t get promoted? Good. More time to get better.

Now I realize that from ’72 through to about ’76, I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn’t have been more rock star.

My life is my message.

I put Catholic guilt to work pretty good for a rich rock star.

I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.

I write for myself things that I’ve gone through.

I think the tiniest little thing can change the course of your day, which can change the course of your year, which can change who you are.

I groan daily under a body of sin and corruption. Oh for the time when I shall drop this flesh, and be free from sin!

Set up a situation that presents you with something slightly beyond your reach.

The experience of pain or loss can be a formidably motivating force.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike as to put to rout all that was not life.

Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for a time, leave us the weaker ever after.

When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.

If a person doesn’t change, there’s something really wrong with him.

He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.

There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.

If you sit there and have that mentality of ‚triple down on what you’re good at,‘ you’re never going to grow. You’re always going to stay the same.

If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.

You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.

I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going. I have respect for the past, but I’m a person of the moment. I’m here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I’m at, then I go forward to the next place.

You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.

I think what’s important is for us to decipher what is honest and what is dishonest and be accepting of those things and not operating from fear.

I grew up with the sea, and poverty for me was sumptuous; then I lost the sea and found all luxuries gray and poverty unbearable.

It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there’s nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.

The U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.

And, honestly, if somebody wants to criticize me for not being a trainwreck, that’s fine with me!

I could not do what I do, and teach a class, and never miss a deadline, never be late for anything if I was a lush, OK? I would really love to read a piece that said, ‚He is not a lush.‘ That would be fabulous, it would be a first, I could show it to people and say, ‚Look!‘

The most intense conflicts, if overcome, leave behind a sense of security and calm that is not easily disturbed. It is just these intense conflicts and their conflagration which are needed to produce valuable and lasting results.

Have the humility to learn from those around you.

It’s more interesting for me to figure out how to be superior in areas where I’m naive, where I’m a novice.

No man is hurt but by himself.

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.

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