For me, I used to be shy towards journalism because it wasn’t poetry. And then I realized that the events that I covered in essays that became journalism were actually great because they inspired me, and they became my muse.

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

Without being the most confident person in the world, I think I am the right person for Liverpool.

You don’t have to be a renowned artist like Q-Tip to try your hand at poetry. You don’t need any special equipment – that’s the beauty of it.

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

You’re not going to scare me into being somebody I don’t want to be.

Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty.

To meditate means to go home to yourself. Then you know how to take care of the things that are happening inside you, and you know how to take care of the things that happen around you.

And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would so like to be, and could be, if there weren’t any other people living in the world.

You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.

If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy of its Almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country, deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly and lone and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors.

I’ve always written. There’s a journal which I kept from about 9 years old. The man who gave it to me lived across the street from the store and kept it when my grandmother’s papers were destroyed. I’d written some essays. I loved poetry, still do. But I really, really loved it then.

Writers write to influence their readers, their preachers, their auditors, but always, at bottom, to be more themselves.

You do things when the opportunities come along. I’ve had periods in my life when I’ve had a bundle of ideas come along, and I’ve had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I’ll do something. If not, I won’t do a damn thing.

Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

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.

Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.

Imagine your family finally making it from nothing to something, and finally getting things going, and finally buying a beautiful house and taking care of your children – and the next day, it’s completely all gone. Zero. Boom. Flat broke. So that’s when I had to man up.

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.

I never saw myself as a folk singer.

I don’t care much for equations myself. This is partly because it is difficult for me to write them down, but mainly because I don’t have an intuitive feeling for equations.

If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.

Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.

When I was a youngster I lived with different families. I nearly always felt closer to the man of the house. Maybe because I always dreamed of having a father of my own.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.

If you have the chance to be exposed to a loving, understanding environment where the seed of compassion, loving kindness, can be watered every day, then you become a more loving person.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Passion rebuilds the world for the youth. It makes all things alive and significant.

In college, I think I probably positioned myself as an aspiring writer, meaning I dressed sort of extravagantly and adopted all the semi-Byronic affectations, as if I were writing, although I wasn’t actually doing any writing.

I became a people-watcher when I lost all my friends when I was 12.

At the end of the day, who I really and truly am is a little girl who loved to play the piano.

I grew up in a funny way.

I’ve experienced great things, I’ve experienced great tragedies. I’ve done almost everything I could possibly ever imagine doing, but I just know that there’s more.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

I want to be an honest man and a good writer.

No book includes the entire world. It’s limited. And so it doesn’t seem like an aesthetic compromise to have to do that. There’s so much other material to write about.

Many people think of perfectionism as striving to be your best, but it is not about self-improvement; it’s about earning approval and acceptance.

One advantage in keeping a diary is that you become aware with reassuring clarity of the changes which you constantly suffer.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.

I remember being in Japan when Destiny’s Child put out ‚Independent Women,‘ and women there were saying how proud they were to have their own jobs, their own independent thinking, their own goals. It made me feel so good, and I realized that one of my responsibilities was to inspire women in a deeper way.

It didn’t even occur to me that I’m the last person in the world who should play salsa or Brazilian music.

Nothing is more fearful than imagination without taste.

It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

I am happy and I’m single.

I put my flaws on front street. So the world accepted my flaws, so I don’t have any flaws.

At ev’ry word a reputation dies.

I was born with a great gift, and sometimes with that comes a destructive streak.

The more a person seeks security, the more that person gives up control over their life.

Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.

When I’m inspired, I get excited because I can’t wait to see what I’ll come up with next.

As a vulnerability researcher, the greatest barrier I see is our low tolerance for vulnerability. We’re almost afraid to be happy. We feel like it’s inviting disaster.

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

Everybody has talent, it’s just a matter of moving around until you’ve discovered what it is.

People always say when they meet me that I’m not what they expect. I assume they think I’m this super dark and depressing guy, but I like to channel all of those emotions into my work.