Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature.

There is no coming to consciousness without pain.

When you’re in hell, you forget how great you really are because you’re suffering and you forget the great things you’ve done.

It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.

I fear that many a man’s good resolutions only need the ordinary fire of daily life to make them melt away. So, too, with fine professions and the boastings of perfection which abound in this age of shams.

When you wash your hands, when you make a cup of coffee, when you’re waiting for the elevator – instead of indulging in thinking, these are all opportunities for being there as a still, alert presence.

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

You have to just make the choices you make in life. I made the choices I made because I believed they were right for me.

Now I am older, I understand we have to accept who we are.

We’re all insecure, aren’t we? I’m not walking around like I’m macho man or anything.

The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation.

Sometimes, I want to talk on a song and be angry, because I am angry. Then there’s always a part of me that remembers that this record lives past my being angry, and so do I really want to be angry about that? Is that feeling going to have longevity?

If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.

When you are full of pride on the inside, it makes you stiff, stubborn, and creates strife with others.

I always have a full-length mirror next to the camera when I’m doing publicity stills. That way, I know how I look.

Let go of yesterday.

Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone.

We are not spending the Federal Government’s money, we are spending the taxpayer’s money, and it must be spent n a way which guarantees his money’s worth and yields the fullest possible benefit to the people being helped.

When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.

A lot of people tell me a lot of things about my conduct, my game, my future… but I try to stay away from their words of wisdom. I don’t let it distract me. On the field, you will be facing the ball alone. If you fail, you will the only one to blame. So, you should be the one deciding for yourself.

An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience.

What you put into life is what you get out of it.

A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks he becomes.

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity.

It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.

Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.

The utmost extent of man’s knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.

Be of love a little more careful than of anything.

Peace begins with a smile.

The most valuable of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it has to be done, whether you like it or not.

The truth doesn’t hurt unless it ought to.

The doer alone learneth.

If you want to know your true opinion of someone, watch the effect produced in you by the first sight of a letter from him.

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.

Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

There is a difference between happiness and wisdom: he that thinks himself the happiest man is really so; but he that thinks himself the wisest is generally the greatest fool.

It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.

I can’t tell anybody else how to run their life or their business, but I really believe I’ve got a good bead on myself.

There’s two sorts of fear: one you embrace and one you should listen to and turn the other way.

People who pity themselves think, ‚Why would I try to do anything? I’ll just fail.‘

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

Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.

Observe all men, thyself most.

He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.

To be conscious means not simply to be, but to be reported, known, to have awareness of one’s being added to that being.

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!

Meditation helps me to calm down.

You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!

I can’t pretend that I’m brave and that I can beat the whole world.

He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.

Good men by nature, wish to know. I know that many will call this useless work… men who desire nothing but material riches and are absolutely devoid of that of wisdom, which is the food and only true riches of the mind.

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves… self-discipline with all of them came first.

All ways of living can be sanctified, and for each individual, the ideal way is that to which our Lord leads him through the natural development of his tastes and the pressure of circumstances.

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

Create a ladder of values and priorities in your life, reminding yourself of what really matters to you.

We should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity have I mastered today? what passions opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.

Many years ago, I concluded that a few hair shirts were part of the mental wardrobe of every man. The president differs from other men in that he has a more extensive wardrobe.

Always have something beautiful in sight, even if it’s just a daisy in a jelly glass.

You are only afraid if you are not in harmony with yourself. People are afraid because they have never owned up to themselves.

Man is the only creature that refuses to be what he is.

When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.