I feel like I have a job to do, like I constantly have to reinvent myself. The more I up the ante for myself, the better it is in the long run. I try to interact with my fans as much as possible. It’s good that the person I’m being onstage isn’t really an act. It’s really me.

I think it’s my responsibility, as a person of influence… to sometimes try to do what I can.

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.

If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.

The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success only comes later.

One cannot violate the promptings of one’s nature without having that nature recoil upon itself.

I’m aware that, whatever the circumstances, there will always be speculation about me.

I write from my soul. This is the reason that critics don’t hurt me, because it is me. If it was not me, if I was pretending to be someone else, then this could unbalance my world, but I know who I am.

You can be happy where you are.

As a lifestyle you always being the focal point is innately unhealthy.

I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else – God is in this person’s life. You can – you must – try to seek God in every human life.

We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.

When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible.

The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.

One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.

Whenever you give up something, you must replace it with something.

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

Never mistake motion for action.

I don’t mind telling a dark side.

Words are powerful; if you change your words, you can change your life.

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

I lived a sloppy life. So I took very small increments in my life. I started making my bed. I started cleaning my room. There were dishes in the sink. It started off with doing small house chores. I saw that the yard needed to be mowed. So instead of being told it needed to be mowed, I would mow it.

We grow older, but we do not change. We become more sophisticated, but at bottom we continue to resemble our young selves, eager to listen to the next story and the next, and the next.

In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take my advice.

I’m a human being. I’ve got opinions, I’m not always right, I’m not always on time, I don’t always say things in the proper way, but my intentions are always extremely pure.

Character is power.

Coaching wouldn’t be for me. No, certainly not.

You can’t hire someone to practice for you.

I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role.

Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.

Fighting for one’s freedom, struggling towards being free, is like struggling to be a poet or a good Christian or a good Jew or a good Muslim or good Zen Buddhist. You work all day long and achieve some kind of level of success by nightfall, go to sleep and wake up the next morning with the job still to be done. So you start all over again.

From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned.

He ate and drank the precious Words, his Spirit grew robust; He knew no more that he was poor, nor that his frame was Dust.

The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosopher’s or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself, and that is why you must know yourself – Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self.

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

I realized the other day that I’ve lived in New York longer than I’ve lived anywhere else. It’s amazing: I am a New Yorker. It’s strange; I never thought I would be.

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

I’ve learned over the years that when I go to that place of passion within me, there’s no force in the universe that can interfere with my completing a project.

Without forgiveness, there’s no future.

Within all of us is a divine capacity to manifest and attract all that we need and desire.

I’m afraid to fail again.

In order to heal others, we first need to heal ourselves. And to heal ourselves, we need to know how to deal with ourselves.

A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us.

There’s a deceptive sin that can keep us from walking in love: pride. It’s deceptive because when you have pride, you’re usually too proud to admit it. I know this because I used to have teachings on pride and they didn’t sell well.

Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends… Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

The Mind that lies fallow but a single Day, sprouts up in Follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous Culture.

Undeserved praise causes more pangs of conscience later than undeserved blame, but probably only for this reason, that our power of judgment are more completely exposed by being over praised than by being unjustly underestimated.

It takes a great deal of character strength to apologize quickly out of one’s heart rather than out of pity. A person must possess himself and have a deep sense of security in fundamental principles and values in order to genuinely apologize.

It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.

I like to complain and do nothing to make things better.

Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess.

Learn to say ‚no‘ to the good so you can say ‚yes‘ to the best.

Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.

When you’re in hell, you forget how great you really are because you’re suffering and you forget the great things you’ve done.

I am a walking piece of art every day, with my dreams and my ambitions forward at all times in an effort to inspire my fans to lead their life in that way.

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.

Your life is like a play with several acts. Some of the characters who enter have short roles to play, others, much larger. Some are villains and others are good guys. But all of them are necessary; otherwise, they wouldn’t be in the play. Embrace them all, and move on to the next act.

If you’re serious, you really understand that it’s important that you laugh as much as possible and admit that you’re the funniest person you ever met. You have to laugh. Admit that you’re funny. Otherwise, you die in solemnity.

Adventuring can be for the ordinary person with ordinary qualities, such as I regard myself.

I think people should feel encouraged to be themselves.