I don’t regret anything.

If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.

The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it: so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it.

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.

The man with insight enough to admit his limitations comes nearest to perfection.

I don’t see the point of doing an interview unless you’re going to share the things you learn in life and the mistakes you make. So to admit that I’m extremely human and have done some dark things I don’t think makes me unusual or unusually dark. I think it actually is the right thing to do, and I’d like to think it’s the nice thing to do.

Only by contending with challenges that seem to be beyond your strength to handle at the moment you can grow more surely toward the stars.

My life is not to be somebody else’s impact – you know what I mean?

The most intense conflicts, if overcome, leave behind a sense of security and calm that is not easily disturbed. It is just these intense conflicts and their conflagration which are needed to produce valuable and lasting results.

I am what I am. A fighter.

The more people I reach, the more people there are that have opinions about me. Not everyone loves me, but I have to be okay no matter what they think about me.

That is my wish, hope, instruction for all of you: Take your education seriously, okay? Always do that. Because I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my education.

By indignities men come to dignities.

Timidity makes a person modest. It makes him or her say, ‚I’m not worthy of being written up in the record of deeds in heaven or on earth.‘ Timidity keeps people from their good. They are afraid to say, ‚Yes, I deserve it.‘

Your life will be a blessed and balanced experience if you first honor your identity and priority.

There’s nothing I have to hide or defend. I’m gonna live my life. And there are times when people wanna try to attack me, and I don’t know why, but they will. And that’s okay.

I’m inconsistent, even to myself.

I am the only person in the world I should like to know thoroughly.

‚Trilogy‘ was more of a claustrophobic body of work. Before it was released, I hadn’t left my city for 21 years, and I had never been on a plane, not once. I spent my entire life on one setting; that’s probably why pieces of the album feel like one long track, because that’s what my life felt like. It felt like one long song.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

One of my goals from really early on was that if I was ever fortunate enough to be successful in music, I would want to stay the same person and the same songwriter.

It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going.

Fear clogs; faith liberates.

When I was young, I could not imagine being old. My mother said, and the doctor confirmed, that I had an unusual amount of energy; and it followed me into young adulthood.

Getting money is not all a man’s business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

I have a great respect for incremental improvement, and I’ve done that sort of thing in my life, but I’ve always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don’t know why. Because they’re harder. They’re much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you’ve completely failed.

I’m of the school of thought where if you can’t sort something out for yourself then no one can help you.

How one life turns out is not dependent on what people do to us or what they don’t do for us.

A man’s growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.

Always fall in with what you’re asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever’s going. Not against: with.

Egos are never nice. I have been a victim of it a lot of times in my career. Whenever I have used it, I have failed.

My reputation grows with every failure.

Bottom line is, I didn’t return to Apple to make a fortune. I’ve been very lucky in my life and already have one. When I was 25, my net worth was $100 million or so. I decided then that I wasn’t going to let it ruin my life. There’s no way you could ever spend it all, and I don’t view wealth as something that validates my intelligence.

Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.

It didn’t even occur to me that I’m the last person in the world who should play salsa or Brazilian music.

Every human being is under construction from conception to death.

You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.

I am not a victim of emotional conflicts. I am human.

The dreams and passions stored within hearts are powerful keys which can unlock a wealth of potential.

I’m trying to keep a level head. You have to be careful out in the world. It’s so easy to get turned.

I’ve always felt that if I examine myself too much, I’ll find out what I know and don’t know, and I’ll burst the bubble. I’ve gotten so lucky relying on my animal instincts, I’d rather keep a little bit of the animal alive.

Instead of blaming everyone and everything else for your problems, pray for God to help you take an inventory of what’s been on your mind so you can think about what you’ve been thinking about.

Although I don’t have a prescription for what others should do, I know I have been very fortunate and feel a responsibility to give back to society in a very significant way.

If you choose to do something, attack it. You can hate me, but there’s one thing you can’t say about me – that I didn’t attack it.

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.

There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.

I never do anything that I don’t want to do.

If you’re going to do something tonight that you’ll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late.

When I was a kid, I had a tendency to criticize. But when I did, my mum would whisk me off to the bathroom to stand in front of a mirror. Ten minutes, never less. To think about how criticism is a poor reflection on the one who criticizes.

We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones. Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man’s features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them.

I got teased my entire school life. What they were picking on I don’t even understand.

It’s an offseason. These days are valuable for everybody.

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

I feel like people can relate to me because we all go through wins and roadblocks and passion and pain, and it’s a vibe.

Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.

To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.

What’s really hard is that you could care a lot for someone and not want to live with him anymore.

We have wasted History like a bunch of drunks shooting dice back in the men’s crapper of the local bar.

I once wanted to prove myself by being a great actress. Now I want to prove that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll be a great actress.

I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That’s my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it’s not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.