Frankly, I think that the news industry is critically important because it points out things and surfaces truths that can often be uncomfortable. I think that that’s working, and the spotlight has been pointed on things that we have a responsibility to do better, and I accept that.

Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.

Correcting bad habits cannot be done by forbidding or punishment.

With fame, you know, you can read about yourself, somebody else’s ideas about you, but what’s important is how you feel about yourself – for survival and living day to day with what comes up.

The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It wasn’t the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility.

Truth is so hard to tell, it sometimes needs fiction to make it plausible.

What’s important for my daughter to know is that… if you are fortunate to have opportunity, it is your duty to make sure other people have those opportunities as well.

It’s a piece of cake until you get to the top. You find you can’t stop playing the game the way you’ve always played it.

You may think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me like a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I could scarcely credit that I, the poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day; that by honest work, I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that time.

Understand, when you eat meat, that something did die. You have an obligation to value it – not just the sirloin but also all those wonderful tough little bits.

Every man in his lifetime needs to thank his faults.

If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.

I’m kind of fascist with myself, you know.

With Benghazi, I don’t see anyone saying, ‚Hey look, I am overall responsible for this and therefore, I take responsibility for what happened. It’s my fault.‘ I haven’t heard that yet. Meanwhile, the other side of the coin, the Osama bin Laden raid, it seems everyone made that decision, and that’s just unbelievable to me.

The biggest problem that we have is that California is being run now by special interests. All of the politicians are not anymore making the moves for the people, but for special interests and we have to stop that.

Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic.

You know, people talk about this being an uncertain time. You know, all time is uncertain. I mean, it was uncertain back in – in 2007, we just didn’t know it was uncertain. It was – uncertain on September 10th, 2001. It was uncertain on October 18th, 1987, you just didn’t know it.

Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.

We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.

Richard Nixon is a no good, lying bastard. He can lie out of both sides of his mouth at the same time, and if he ever caught himself telling the truth, he’d lie just to keep his hand in.

Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.

I was never really good at anything except for the ability to learn.

There are three methods to gaining wisdom. The first is reflection, which is the highest. The second is limitation, which is the easiest. The third is experience, which is the bitterest.

It’s normal for human beings to identify with their own separate self. The problem is that we get caught in that notion of ourself as a separate individual and caught in that individual self’s agenda.

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

Truth has no special time of its own. Its hour is now – always.

Libraries raised me.

The self is hateful.

I’m always pushing for human responsibility. Given that chimpanzees and many other animals are sentient and sapient, then we should treat them with respect.

Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.

We are often raised as dependents then given over to teachers. It’s experience and exploration that can transform us and lead to mastery.

Mystical explanations are thought to be deep; the truth is that they are not even shallow.

Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.

If we could just find out who’s in charge, we could kill him.

For a creative writer possession of the ‚truth‘ is less important than emotional sincerity.

We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it.

Basically you have to suppress your own ambitions in order to be who you need to be.

The only real progress lies in learning to be wrong all alone.

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.

I can handle pain.

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.

Ultimately this issue is on us. We’re the ones who make the decisions about what our kids eat.

It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear.

The need to be right is the sign of a vulgar mind.

Life well spent is long.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.

People who read the tabloids deserve to be lied to.

Human beings must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it.

I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.

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 need to keep working on myself for a while.

A president either is constantly on top of events or, if he hesitates, events will soon be on top of him. I never felt that I could let up for a moment.

An example I often use to illustrate the reality of vanity, is this: look at the peacock; it’s beautiful if you look at it from the front. But if you look at it from behind, you discover the truth… Whoever gives in to such self-absorbed vanity has huge misery hiding inside them.

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.

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.

When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple: Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings? The killers are to blame.

Always do everything you ask of those you command.

Do not think of your faults, still less of other’s faults; look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.