Everything I read about hitting a midlife crisis was true. I had such a struggle letting go of youthful things and learning how to exist and have enthusiasm while settling into the comfort of an older age.

Those who know me know I’m passionate about lists, and top of my list of priorities is my family. My wife Joan and I do not consider our legacy to our children to be wealth or fame but the opportunity to pursue happiness by following their own path.

Everything that enlarges the sphere of human powers, that shows man he can do what he thought he could not do, is valuable.

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

Meditation is difficult for many people because their thoughts are always on some distant object or place. One form of meditation is to label the thought as it appears and then choose to let it go.

When I first went to places where people were suffering from war and persecution, I felt ashamed of my feelings of sadness. I could see more possibilities in my life.

My work is the only ground I’ve ever had to stand on. To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation, but I’m working on the foundation.

I don’t want to be too critical of what other people do, but when people go back to do the same thing that they did, I’m completely confused. I’m like, ‚Didn’t you make that movie already?‘ I’ve been very fortunate, and I’m well taken care of, so the least I can do is try to go forward.

Failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.

Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.

If you choose to do something, attack it. You can hate me, but there’s one thing you can’t say about me – that I didn’t attack it.

Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

I had the classic 40 meltdown. I did. It’s embarrassing. It was pretty funny. But then I recovered. To me, it was like a second adolescence. Hormonally, my body was changing, my mind was changing, and so my relationship to myself and the world around me came to this assault of finiteness.

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

I have discovered that just because we grow weaker physically as we age, it doesn’t mean that we must grow weaker spiritually.

I always try to be myself. Ever since I was an introverted kid, I’d get on stage and be able to break out of my shell.

I don’t know how to live good. I only know how to suffer.

As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.

I’m aware that, whatever the circumstances, there will always be speculation about me.

When I inspire myself, I want to spread the word because its important to be healthy. I don’t think they’re teaching us enough about that. I think we should eat better and exercise. Look who’s saying that – a guy who was 300 pounds – but I’m doing a lot better than I used to. I’m letting people know its important because it makes you feel better.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

Education must provide the opportunities for self-fulfillment; it can at best provide a rich and challenging environment for the individual to explore, in his own way.

I never saw myself as a folk singer.

We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You’re always helping people.

The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerance. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors, and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.

Always say ‚yes‘ to the present moment… Surrender to what is. Say ‚yes‘ to life – and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you rather than against you.

I think that I’m perfect.

Remember you are just an extra in everyone else’s play.

Many foxes grow gray but few grow good.

In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.

Renunciation remains sorrow, though a sorrow borne willingly.

He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all grief is attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy.

Live one day at a time emphasizing ethics rather than rules.

There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel no one else has a right to blame us.

Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.

If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults.

What is a fear of living? It’s being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take full responsibility for yourself – for the time you take up and the space you occupy. If you don’t know what you’re here to do, then just do some good.

It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, ‚always do what you are afraid to do.‘

It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.

Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt.

Remorse sleeps during prosperity but awakes bitter consciousness during adversity.

I feel like people can relate to me because we all go through wins and roadblocks and passion and pain, and it’s a vibe.

I am not happy, and the quest for happiness as a principal objective is not part of my world. Of course, ever since I can remember, I have done what I felt like doing.

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.

You’ve got to learn to survive a defeat. That’s when you develop character.

Your entire life only happens in this moment. The present moment is life itself. Yet, people live as if the opposite were true and treat the present moment as a stepping stone to the next moment – a means to an end.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

I’m super self-critical, which I think is good, because then I get exactly what I want. I’m critical of other people, too – I try not to be, though.

Usually, people have a tendency to be caught in the worries concerning the future or in the regret concerning the past. There is some kind of energy that is pushing them to run, and they are not able to establish themselves in the present moment.

I never – you know also one of the things that would save me for a man my age, it was not that easy to lose that much weight and fall down and look like something draped.

It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.

My life has been very full.

Mickey Rourke’s character in ‚The Wrestler‘ – that was my dad, that was my uncles, that was so many members of my family. It was the only thing they knew. And then they would end up wrestling for a hundred bucks, go to autograph signings for two hundred bucks.

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

I built a label at the same time I built a career.

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.