Family and friendships are two of the greatest facilitators of happiness.

I was brought up as an only child, and we were very close. But when I was 14, we got evicted. We came home to a padlock, and I looked up at my mom and she was crying, and there was nothing to do.

Happiness is neither without us nor within us. It is in God, both without us and within us.

It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.

Every man sees in his relatives, and especially in his cousins, a series of grotesque caricatures of himself.

We were never intimate mother and children while she was our mother – but… when she became our child, the affection came.

Every day I try to be in communication with the universe in an unconscious way.

I have a really close relationship with Mike Bloomberg.

We cannot possibly let ourselves get frozen into regarding everyone we do not know as an absolute stranger.

People say I look so happy – and I say, ‚That’s the Botox.‘

I felt I had to solve everyone’s problems.

A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.

Right now, we don’t have a very good relation with creation.

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.

The only way to get love is to be lovable. It’s very irritating if you have a lot of money. You’d like to think you could write a check: ‚I’ll buy a million dollars‘ worth of love.‘ But it doesn’t work that way. The more you give love away, the more you get.

I do have a lot of gays in my family now, but some will never come out.

The painter who is familiar with the nature of the sinews, muscles, and tendons, will know very well, in giving movement to a limb, how many and which sinews cause it; and which muscle, by swelling, causes the contraction of that sinew; and which sinews, expanded into the thinnest cartilage, surround and support the said muscle.

My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.

Obviously, you go through a lot of emotional turmoil in a divorce.

I was adored once too.

To conceal anything from those to whom I am attached, is not in my nature. I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart.

Then, when I’m in these relationships with people who are also creative, or creative in their own way, what happens is the attraction is initially there and it’s all unicorns and rainbows. And then they hate me.

It’s in responsibility that most people find the meaning that sustains them through life. It’s not in happiness. It’s not in impulsive pleasure.

When your mother asks, ‚Do you want a piece of advice?‘ it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.

Where fear is, happiness is not.

A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me.

The wisest hustler can suddenly fall for the worst tramp and lose all of his money on her. The hustler is aware of his own weaknesses and openings to con. This awareness is his edge.

Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.

Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.

No one can look back on his schooldays and say with truth that they were altogether unhappy.

Within one’s own family, money is not the measure of things, unless the person is an absolute Scrooge. Only the most extreme kind of monster would put a price on everything.

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.

My husband is everything to me and without him it’s just not the same.

We all die, we all get sick, we all feel hunger and lust and pain, and therefore human life is consistent from one generation to the other. We all – most of us, anyway – want connections with other people and spend our lives looking for them.

Woman, or more precisely put, perhaps, marriage, is the representative of life with which you are meant to come to terms.

I’ve learned that we all change constantly. It’s rare to find that person who is growing with you in the same way at the same time, who encourages you to grow.

A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.

As I grow up, the lessons I learn in love and relationships and how we treat each other are hopefully maturing – hopefully.

If you’re the parent, be a parent. You know what I mean? I’m a parent. I have daughters.

I love my daddy. My daddy’s everything. I hope I can find a man that will treat me as good as my dad.

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

If I wouldn’t have found Courtney, I probably would have carried on with a bisexual lifestyle.

It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.

Relationships are the hallmark of the mature person.

He who is contented is rich.

There isn’t any formula or method. You learn to love by loving – by paying attention and doing what one thereby discovers has to be done.

My father wasn’t a cruel man. And I loved him. But he was a pretty tough character. His own father was even tougher – one of those Victorians, hard as iron – but my dad was tough enough.

So long as I’m Commander-in-Chief, we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known. When you take off the uniform, we will serve you as well as you’ve served us – because no one who fights for this country should have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care that they need when they come home.

We deem those happy who from the experience of life have learnt to bear its ills without being overcome by them.

Power means happiness; power means hard work and sacrifice.

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.

Happiness does not lie in happiness, but in the achievement of it.

I know that a large part of my fan base is gay. They’ve shown me love from the start. I mean in this industry, everyone from my glam people to my dancers are gay. You can’t be homophobic in this line of work – I’m a pop star!

I know I’m talented, but I wasn’t put here to sing. I was put here to be a wife and a mom and look after my family. I love what I do, but it’s not where it begins and ends.

In my heart, I’m just a kid from the council houses. I can remember the old cottage and my dad coming round with the tin bath. I’m not a rich man.

It’s always wonderful to get to know women, with the mystery and the joy and the depth. If you can make a woman laugh, you’re seeing the most beautiful thing on God’s Earth.

A man should never neglect his family for business.

Having a child, that’s always been my biggest fear. I want a child and I fear a child.