I believe that God’s dream is that we be successful in our careers, and that we be able to send our kids to college. I don’t mean that everyone is going to be rich, and I preach a lot on blooming where you’re planted. But I don’t have the mindset that money is a bad thing.

I was inspired to spend an entire year – my 65th year – reading, researching, and meditating on Lao-tzu’s messages, practicing them and ultimately writing down these insights as I felt Lao-tzu wanted us to know them.

Base souls have no faith in great individuals.

There are people out there who hate me and who say I’m arrogant, vain, and whatever. That’s all part of my success. I am made to be the best.

It’s honestly true that money means nothing to me.

Purity of personal life is the one indispensable condition for building up a sound education.

You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.

Catering to bad feelings feeds and empowers them.

My mom and I have always been there for each other. We had some tough times, but she was always there for me.

I like to recede away from classifications. You might say that indicates a fundamental lack of commitment. I suppose that’s true to some degree.

The man who has the will to undergo all labor may win to any good.

In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm… in the real world all rests on perseverance.

It feels good being a restaurant owner because it’s part of my dreams of being the biggest mogul.

There are people in the world who aren’t necessarily Christians, but they’re just naturally nice people who do a lot for other people. Those people will almost always be prosperous people.

God puts people in our lives on purpose so we can help them succeed and help them become all He created them to be. Most people will not reach their full potential without somebody else believing in them.

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.

To be happy we must not be too concerned with others.

Sometimes you have to take two steps back to take ten forward.

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

I believe everyone should have a good death. You know, with your grandchildren around you, a bit of sobbing. Because after all, tears are appropriate on a death bed. And you say goodbye to your loved ones, making certain that one of them has been left behind to look after the shop.

I think as long as I do a good job and put in all my effort to proving that I’m worth it, then everything should be fine.

You don’t have the same mentality as you did five years ago – even one year. People are always changing, and I believe that everyone deserves the space to change and for people to recognize their change.

Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.

In the successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention.

I feel that sin and evil are the negative part of you, and I think it’s like a battery: you’ve got to have the negative and the positive in order to be a complete person.

I did not set out to convert anyone to Christianity.

One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be.

When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade.

Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.

What I cry out for, like every being, with my whole life and all my earthly passion, is something very different from an equal to cherish: it is a God to adore.

I was dyslexic, I had no understanding of schoolwork whatsoever. I certainly would have failed IQ tests. And it was one of the reasons I left school when I was 15 years old. And if I – if I’m not interested in something, I don’t grasp it.

We can all be successful and make money, but when we die, that ends. But when you are significant is when you help other people be successful. That lasts many a lifetime.

You can never get enough of what you don’t want.

I’d like to think you don’t stop being creative once you get happy. My ultimate goal is to end up being happy. Most of the time.

God made you a masterpiece – be blessed, secure, disciplined and equipped.

Feels good to try, but playing a father, I’m getting a little older. I see now that I’m taking it more serious and I do want that lifestyle.

I never thought a career as a musician was possible.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.

People who don’t know the true character of God – who don’t believe He is merciful, gracious and slow to anger – can never have a close, personal, intimate relationship with Him.

The most successful war seldom pays for its losses.

You cannot be President of the United States if you don’t have faith. Remember Lincoln, going to his knees in times of trial in the Civil War and all that stuff.

If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for War.

Faith… must be enforced by reason… when faith becomes blind it dies.

I have a strong feeling that I shall be glad when I am dead and done for – scrapped at last to make room for somebody better, cleverer, more perfect than myself.

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.

A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is.

My understanding of racial discrimination as a child was highly distorted because the most prominent man in Archery was an African-American bishop. When he came home from up north, where he was in charge of A.M.E. churches in five states, it was front-page news. He was the most successful man in my life.

God’s Spirit moves through us and the world at a pace that can never be constricted by any one religious paradigm.

I have enjoyed great satisfaction from my climb of Everest and my trips to the poles. But there’s no doubt that my most worthwhile things have been the building of schools and medical clinics.

It was my delusion and naivety that brought me here.

There’s no political point worth my son’s life.

My son is becoming me – just a silly, silly prankster guy.

The happiest people in the world are those who feel absolutely terrific about themselves, and this is the natural outgrowth of accepting total responsibility for every part of their life.

What’s so beautiful about Miami is that we support each other. We’re just one big family, not just the entertainers, just everyone in general.

You want to play another kind of character in another genre, and it’s been something I’ve been trying to do if I can in the career so far, and it’s something I hope to continue because it’s interesting to me and you get to do different things as an actor.

You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life.

Just got back from a pleasure trip: I took my mother-in-law to the airport.

Brad was a huge surprise to me. I think we were both the last two people who were looking for a relationship. I certainly wasn’t. I was quite content to be a single mom with Mad.

God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness in heaven, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he’ll be there.

Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.