I don’t have much positive to say about motor neurone disease. But it taught me not to pity myself because others were worse off, and to get on with what I could still do.

The only way round is through.

Instead of comparing our lot with that of those who are more fortunate than we are, we should compare it with the lot of the great majority of our fellow men. It then appears that we are among the privileged.

Don’t tell your problems to people: eighty percent don’t care; and the other twenty percent are glad you have them.

Man is not made for defeat.

Freedom is relative.

I think there is a sense of being forced at this time to look at America’s really large shadow and that’s not all that bad.

A child thinks 20 shillings and 20 years can scarce ever be spent.

You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

Being happy is a matter of personal taste.

I don’t look at a man who’s expert in one area as a specialist. I look at him as a rookie in ten other areas.

There’s always a bittersweet kind of thing, but I feel like everything had to work out the way it is. Everything that had to happen, happened.

Applause is a receipt, not a bill.

There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.

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

I think it’s very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything’s going to be all right, even when you’re not sure it is.

I don’t even know how to speak up for myself, because I don’t really have a father who would give me the confidence or advice. And if you’re always the new kid, you never get a chance to adapt, so your confidence is just zilch.

I was fortunate and I was lucky that I had a couple of people in my life who cared about me. I had good, loving parents.

I was willing to accept what I couldn’t change.

Thanks to my fans that have been with me from the beginning, I was able to sell out arenas on my own.

Everyone goes through adversity in life, but what matters is how you learn from it.

I’ve had some dark nights of the soul, of course, but giving in to depression would be a sellout, a defeat.

I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.

You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know.

Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spent the rest of the day putting the pieces together.

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.

An enemy generally says and believes what he wishes.

There are slavish souls who carry their appreciation for favors done them so far that they strangle themselves with the rope of gratitude.

What kind of people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?

Never give in – never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.

When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

I don’t have much positive to say about motor neuron disease, but it taught me not to pity myself because others were worse off, and to get on with what I still could do. I’m happier now than before I developed the condition.

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

While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive.

Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.

I’m healthy as can be – not an ache or a pain. A lot of my prayer is thanking the Lord that I am healthy. I pray for long life and good health.

I can take it. The tougher it gets, the cooler I get.

The frontier between hell and heaven is only the difference between two ways of looking at things.

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.

No untroubled day has ever dawned for me.

I feel you’re in charge of your own situation.

Never in any case say I have lost such a thing, but I have returned it. Is your child dead? It is a return. Is your wife dead? It is a return. Are you deprived of your estate? Is not this also a return?

Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.

I was a chemistry major, but I’m always winding up as a teacher in English departments, so I’ve brought scientific thinking to literature. There’s been very little gratitude for this.

Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess.

I really thought I was on the way out. My husband Blake saved my life. Often I don’t know what I do, then the next day the memory returns. And then I am engulfed in shame.

Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to us.

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

I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. No matter what the injury – unless it’s completely debilitating – I’m going to be the same player I’ve always been. I’ll figure it out. I’ll make some tweaks, some changes, but I’m still coming.

It seems the older you get, the more life comes into focus.

When things are really dismal, you can laugh, or you can cave in completely.

I don’t think I would be interested in the climate at all if I had been like everyone else.

The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.

So thoroughly and sincerely are we compelled to live, reverencing our life, and denying the possibility of change. This is the only way, we say; but there are as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one centre. All change is a miracle to contemplate; but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant.

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.

These times are so hard, and they’re getting even harder.

The way up and the way down are one and the same.

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.

No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned… a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.