I am sure there’s going to be times when I do things wrong that no one’s going to like and everyone’s going to think I’m terrible and rubbish but I know I’m going to go through those times, and it’s just about understanding that that’s going to happen.

I always thought it was wrong for me to take credit for the work that I did. I don’t think that anymore.

Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.

We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.

Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress.

I think I mainly climb mountains because I get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I never attempt to analyze these things too thoroughly, but I think that all mountaineers do get a great deal of satisfaction out of overcoming some challenge which they think is very difficult for them, or which perhaps may be a little dangerous.

Success is always dangerous, and we need to be alert and avoid becoming the victims of our own success. Will we influence the world for Christ, or will the world influence us?

For me, ‚risky‘ is revealing what really happened in my life through music. Risky is writing confessional songs and telling the true story about a person with enough details so everyone knows who that person is.

America makes prodigious mistakes, America has colossal faults, but one thing cannot be denied: America is always on the move. She may be going to Hell, of course, but at least she isn’t standing still.

My dad seemed comfortable with his decision to be a ‚have-not,‘ but I knew that I wasn’t.

Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.

I say, ‚Yeah, Taylor Swift.‘ I think she is a smart, beautiful girl. I think she’s making all the right moves. She’s got a good head on her shoulders. She’s surrounded with wonderful people. Her songs are great. She keeps herself anchored. She knows who she is, and she’s living and standing by that.

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

The real truths of life are never entirely new to you or to anybody because there is a level deep down within you where you already know all the things, all those spiritual truths that you read or hear, and then recognize them. I say ‚recognize‘ because you’re not… it’s not new.

As a kid from Compton, you can get all the success in the world and still question your worth.

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

People have to go through trials and tribulations to get where they at. Do your thing – continue to rock it – because obviously, God wants you here.

I think it’s a very good thing to leave your country and look at it from afar.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.

The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days.

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.

You can either be a host to God, or a hostage to your ego. It’s your call.

If we’re really honest with ourselves, most of us will admit that we want to impress people, and this is what’s causing us to do what we do.

I always had music growing up, but music was also like a journal. It was like my personal diary or personal journal. A lot of the things I couldn’t express to an individual, I would express them in my music.

People are more aware now of cities and of different ways of life. I suppose the writing I do is a bit in the past, and I’m not sure it’s the kind of writing I would do if I were starting now.

In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take my advice.

I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.

I’m not a complete psychopath. Am I partially? Sure. I’ll accept that. But I’m not a complete psychopath.

I’m not frightened of appearing vulnerable.

I want to believe that I am improving. This is something that I take really seriously.

I’m not critic-proof, and I still take it personally, but I take it less personally now.

Custom reconciles us to everything.

Little things affect little minds.

I think life is a matter of choices and that wherever we are, good or bad, is because of choices we make.

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.

When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic.

Is fear preventing you from taking action? Acknowledge the fear, watch it, take your attention into it, be fully present with it. Doing so cuts the link between the fear and your thinking. Don’t let the fear rise up into your mind. Use the power of the Now. Fear cannot prevail against it.

Don’t wait to be successful at some future point. Have a successful relationship with the present moment and be fully present in whatever you are doing. That is success.

Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking them.

Serious illness doesn’t bother me for long because I am too inhospitable a host.

Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.

Either you think, or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.

That’s something I think is growing on me as I get older: happy endings.

I used to get into a lot of fights.

If you have to stand and fight, you train yourself so that you’re able to do it.

I was a very shy character, always feeling uncomfortable because everybody was stronger than I, and always afraid I would look like a sissy. Everybody else played baseball; everybody else did all kinds of athletic things.

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

I’ve been searching for ways to heal myself, and I’ve found that kindness is the best way.

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable and imperfect.

I think the healthy way to live is to make friends with the beast inside oneself, and that means not the beast but the shadow. The dark side of one’s nature. Have fun with it and you know, is to accept everything about ourselves.

I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.

I’m sure I’ve changed my mind about something. Inevitably, when we grow up – as we get more experience and wiser. Well, I’ve changed my mind about some food that I didn’t like when I was young.

Self-talk, for me, has been the biggest thing in my life. A lot of us have a dialogue that is crap. It’s a crappy dialogue. We live in a world right now that is very external. Everything is very on the surface. Superficial. Everything. And what we’re telling ourselves is what we see on TV.

When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence.

The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.

Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.

You’re going to go through tough times – that’s life. But I say, ‚Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.‘ See the positive in negative events.

I’ve always believed in God. I also think that’s the sort of thing that either comes as part of the equipment, the capacity to believe, or at some point in your life, when you’re in a position where you actually need help from a power greater than yourself, you simply make an agreement.

My mom cleaned toilets for a long time, and she’d seen a lot of terrible things, but she was still the strength of our family. And there are women like that all across the country – all around the world – who show that type of fortitude.