I don’t think I’m bad for people. If I did think I was bad for people, I would go back to driving a truck, and I really mean this.

Nobody knows me.

Just because something didn’t work out your way, or somebody disappointed you, that does not change who you are.

As the father of eight children, I’m quite convinced that each individual arrives here with their own unique personality. We are intended here from an invisible held of infinite potentiality. That which has no form, has no boundaries – it’s the I that’s in the ever-changing body.

I’ve had no contact with my daughter for years. That’s her choice. Anyway, you move on. If people don’t want to bother with me, fine. You know, God bless them, and move on.

It’s easy to become very self-critical when you’re an actor. Then you get critiqued by the critics. Whether you agree with them or not, people are passing judgment on you.

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.

We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork, you must make a decision.

A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.

I’ve turned down shows offering large amounts of money.

We cannot live being obsessed with what other people think about us. It’s impossible to live like that. Not even God managed to please the entire world.

I’m not frightened of appearing vulnerable.

How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as the ears, and such fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain can experience itself anything less than a god.

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones.

I have the problems of, I must confess, old age.

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

I don’t think I am evangelical in my work.

I never fall in love.

I know who I am, I know what I can and can’t do. I know what I will and won’t do. I know what I’m capable of and I don’t agree to do things that I don’t think I can pull off.

Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong – these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.

The one thing that I keep learning over and over again is that I don’t know nothing. I mean, that’s my life lesson.

No one person controls Microsoft. The board and the shareholders decide whether they want to have me as CEO.

When I was in college I did a lot of stupid things and I don’t want to make an excuse for that. Some of the things that people accuse me of are true, some of them aren’t. There are pranks, IMs.

I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given. I believed in myself, and I believe in the goodness of others.

You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment.

It is really very important while you are young to live in an environment in which there is no fear. Most of us, as we grow older, become frightened; we are afraid of living, afraid of losing a job, afraid of tradition, afraid of what the neighbours, or what the wife or husband would say, afraid of death.

We will burn that bridge when we come to it.

With fame, you know, you can read about yourself, somebody else’s ideas about you, but what’s important is how you feel about yourself – for survival and living day to day with what comes up.

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.

Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way.

This nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power.

Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind.

I’m kind of fascist with myself, you know.

I knew that I was ‚interesting‘ at 18 because I was aware that I could get away with doing things on stage.

Whatever position I occupied, it was the result of colleagues – of my comrades in the movement – who had decided in their wisdom to use me for the purpose of focusing the attention of the country and the international community on me.

The glory of being a carrier pilot has certainly worn off.

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.

Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated.

I think that people just have this core desire to express who they are. And I think that’s always existed.

Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.

I want people to draw strength from me.

Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.

Day by day we should weigh what we have granted to the spirit of the world against what we have denied to the spirit of Jesus, in thought and especially in deed.

I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose, because settling is the worst feeling in the world.

I worked for Xerox for 4 years and after that I knew I was never going to be a corporate person. It wasn’t my environment.

I was ashamed to admit I was hipped to the idea of acting. That’s why I started in with the props.

I’ve learned never to say never.

I think we have to own the fears that we have of each other, and then, in some practical way, some daily way, figure out how to see people differently than the way we were brought up to.

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.

I had my moments of being humiliated, and then I had moments of doing something humiliating. I’m glad I lived out both roles.

Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content.

It were a real increase of human happiness, could all young men from the age of nineteen be covered under barrels, or rendered otherwise invisible; and there left to follow their lawful studies and callings, till they emerged, sadder and wiser, at the age of twenty-five.

And above all things, never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.

Genius is a potential that lives within you and every other human being. You have many moments of genius in your lifetime. These are the times when you have a uniquely brilliant idea and implement it even if only you are aware of how fantastic it is.

If we are to be happy, we must first react against our tendency to follow the line of least resistance, a tendency that causes us either to remain as we are, or to look primarily to activities external to ourselves for what will provide new impetus to our lives.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.

Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.

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.

Don’t just let the devil use your mind as a garbage dump.