I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.

The worst enemy of life, freedom and the common decencies is total anarchy; their second worst enemy is total efficiency.

I’ve always put everybody else’s child first before my own health, before my own outfit, before my own time frame.

In the affairs of this world, men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it.

A cat is only itself, representative of the strong forces of life that won’t let go.

I’m going to use all my tools, my God-given ability, and make the best life I can with it.

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Yet his shadow still looms. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives; who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves?

When you look at the sun during your walking meditation, the mindfulness of the body helps you to see that the sun is in you; without the sun there is no life at all and suddenly you get in touch with the sun in a different way.

All my big mistakes are when I try to second-guess or please an audience. My work is always stronger when I get very selfish about it.

Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains.

Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.

Neither should a ship rely on one small anchor, nor should life rest on a single hope.

Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.

I want to know why the universe exists, why there is something greater than nothing.

Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in this world.

Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‚to do‘ list.

It needs time. Nobody wants to hear it, but that’s the truth: if you want to have success in the future, you have to be ready to work now.

The way of the Creative works through change and transformation, so that each thing receives its true nature and destiny and comes into permanent accord with the Great Harmony: this is what furthers and what perseveres.

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.

Men may change their climate, but they cannot change their nature. A man that goes out a fool cannot ride or sail himself into common sense.

Didn’t get promoted? Good. More time to get better.

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.

We are symbols, and inhabit symbols.

Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed was the ninth beatitude.

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.

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.

Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement.

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; the Named is the mother of all things.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.

If you had your life to live over again, do it overseas.

I don’t believe in an outside agent that creates the world, then walks away. But I feel very strongly there is an intelligence at work in every flower, in every blade of grass, in every cell of my body. And it is that intelligence that, I wouldn’t say created the universe. It is creating the universe. It’s an ongoing process.

It’s not morbid to talk about death. Most people don’t worry about death, they worry about a bad death.

He who looks the higher is the more highly distinguished, and turning over the great book of nature (which is the proper object of philosophy) is the way to elevate one’s gaze.

Who is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens.

Victory belongs to the most persevering.

The universe is transformation: life is opinion.

I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It’s just that the translations have gone wrong.

If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.

My whole life and my whole career, even through my music, I tell people: let’s unify; let’s show more love.

Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask. She has long ago taken her resolution.

My celebrity status allows me an opportunity, allows me a pulpit to preach and reach out to the people. Not even always preaching but just leading, motivating them by being a leader.

Sometimes I’m a bit under-aggressive and sometimes a bit over. But I think it’s good to have both.

He who falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

Respond intelligently even to unintelligent treatment.

This is Sunday, and the question arises, what’ll I start tomorrow?

Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master.

From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned.

Fear is stupid. So are regrets.

The important thing is that men should have a purpose in life. It should be something useful, something good.

One is still what one is going to cease to be and already what one is going to become. One lives one’s death, one dies one’s life.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.

The sum of wisdom is that time is never lost that is devoted to work.

It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

I like to do things quickly because I’m easily bored.

No one can be happy who has been thrust outside the pale of truth. And there are two ways that one can be removed from this realm: by lying, or by being lied to.

A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons.

More gold has been mined from the thoughts of men than has been taken from the earth.