I don’t go around thinking I’m Ray Bradbury all the time.

Between stimulus and response, there is a space where we choose our response.

Mastery passes often for egotism.

People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

There are phases in life which surface at times, and it makes you understand that despite you working hard, everything what you are doing is probably not enough. That’s when you need to look around, and beyond.

I can be a cruel person.

Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.

It is the superfluous things for which men sweat, – superfluous things that wear our togas theadbare, that force us to grow old in camp, that dash us upon foreign shores.

Everything in the universe has a purpose. Indeed, the invisible intelligence that flows through everything in a purposeful fashion is also flowing through you.

Thought must be divided against itself before it can come to any knowledge of itself.

He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.

Become aware of your own insufficiency.

Always be sincere, even if you don’t mean it.

Your entire life only happens in this moment. The present moment is life itself. Yet, people live as if the opposite were true and treat the present moment as a stepping stone to the next moment – a means to an end.

Self-actualized people are independent of the good opinion of others.

My fate cannot be mastered; it can only be collaborated with and thereby, to some extent, directed. Nor am I the captain of my soul; I am only its noisiest passenger.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.

We used to wonder where war lived, what it was that made it so vile. And now we realize that we know where it lives… inside ourselves.

I guess I’m living in the present more than the past.

But blind to former as to future fate, what mortal knows his pre-existent state?

I don’t look at myself as a commodity, but I’m sure a lot of people have.

I have made a few mistakes early on that I admit myself, and there have been times when I have gone over the top and done things that you shouldn’t do in international cricket, but that’s how you learn.

We have all had the experience of finding that our reactions and perhaps even our deeds have denied beliefs we thought were ours.

The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.

I’m not claiming divinity. I’ve never claimed purity of soul. I’ve never claimed to have the answers to life. I only put out songs and answer questions as honestly as I can… But I still believe in peace, love and understanding.

I am not some goddess that dropped down from the sky to sing pop music; I am not some extra-incredible human person that needs to be told how wonderful they are all day and kissed.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.

One of the things I realized is that if you do not take control over your time and your life, other people will gobble it up. If you don’t prioritize yourself, you constantly start falling lower and lower on your list, your kids fall lower and lower on your list.

He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines.

Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.

I was ill, and everyone could see it but me.

At 30 a man should know himself like the palm of his hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures – be what he is. And, above all, accept these things.

Love is a state of Being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you. It is not dependent on some other body, some external form.

I briefly did therapy, but after a while, I realised it is just like a farmer complaining about the weather. You can’t fix the weather – you just have to get on with it.

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.

When people get taken over by the ego to such an extent, there is nothing else in their mind except the ego. They can no longer feel or sense their humanity – what they share with other human beings, or even with other life forms on the planet. They are so identified with concepts in their minds that other human beings become concepts as well.

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride.

The deepest desire of the human spirit is to be acknowledged.

I was never particularly fond of my voice.

What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.

We fear to know the fearsome and unsavory aspects of ourselves, but we fear even more to know the godlike in ourselves.

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

When you are young you tend to do so many things that are not needed. When you get experience, you know what exactly what works for you and you tend to do things that you want.

The most common lie is that which one lies to himself; lying to others is relatively an exception.

You are a little soul carrying around a corpse.

Well, there are some things that I just can’t get out of my head, and they start to annoy me after a while. Sometimes they’re of my own creation, as well – and they’re just as annoying. It’s not only other people’s ear worms that bug me, it’s my own, as well.

We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.

We’re one of the only animals in the world that don’t really think of ourselves as animals, but we are animals, and we must respect our fellow animals.

Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one.

It is only in our decisions that we are important.

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

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.

Imaginary evils soon become real one by indulging our reflections on them.

I have never regarded myself as a hero, but Tenzing undoubtedly was.

When you stop caring what people think, you lose your capacity for connection. When you’re defined by it, you lose our capacity for vulnerability.

It is important to remember yourself.

Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: ‚Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path?‘ If you don’t ask those questions, your governance will not be good.

An alcoholic is someone you don’t like who drinks as much as you do.

Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.