I go through a lot of depression, and I know other people do, too, but I have an outlet that so many people don’t. If you have that inside of you and can’t get it out, what do you do?

The Revolution did not assume a socialist nature because of support from the U.S.S.R.; it was the other way around: support from the U.S.S.R. was produced by the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution. To such a degree, that when the U.S.S.R. disappears, Cuba keeps on being socialist.

We all get weary sometimes, and we tend to think that life is what makes us weary.

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.

I always say this about my music, and music in general: Music is like a time capsule. Each album reflects what I’m going through or what’s going on in my life at that moment.

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.

It is in the treatment of trifles that a person shows what they are.

The only difference between the sane and the insane is that the sane have the power to lock up the insane.

Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

A guilty conscience needs to confess. A work of art is a confession.

I don’t see myself as a pop artist. Like, when you hear ‚pop,‘ you’re like, ‚Oh, bubblegum, jumpy little girly stuff,‘ and I feel like, ‚Uh-uh. That’s not me.‘

If someone decides they’re not going to be happy, it’s not your problem. You don’t have to spend your time and energy trying to cheer up someone who has already decided to stay in a bad mood. Believe it or not, you can actually hurt people by playing into their self-pity.

I know how fiction matters to me, because if I want to express myself, I have to make up a story. Some people call it imagination. To me, it’s not imagination. It’s just a way of watching.

The Qataris have cut off support for the most extreme elements of terrorist organizations.

I am for people. I can’t help it.

Grief changes shape, but it never ends.

I’m so tough and so bad, I can be humble and lift another guy up.

One ought to hold on to one’s heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.

I think sometimes the critics want me to beat people down, and that’s not in me. I want to lift people up.

My husband has quite simply been my strength and stay all these years, and I owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim.

These poems, with all their crudities, doubts, and confusions, are written for the love of Man and in praise of God, and I’d be a damn‘ fool if they weren’t.

Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.

As we dread any disease that undermines the health of the body, so should we deplore contention, which is a corroding canker of the spirit.

Love is a serious mental disease.

Whenever the speech is corrupted so is the mind.

To help a friend in need is easy, but to give him your time is not always opportune.

I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.

As a musician and a songwriter, it is an act of the ego to believe that other people might be interested in your point of view. But it is usually an empathetic nature that gets you going in the first place.

I write because writing is something that I have to do. And it doesn’t matter whether people like it or not. When I write, I feel the pressure and anxiety that come with taking an empty piece of paper and trying to fill it with something from your own consciousness.

In cricket, my superhero is Sachin Tendulkar. He has always been my hero and will continue to remain so. Apart from him and outside cricket, my mother has remained my inspiration. Whatever difficult time I had faced, she was always there for me. She has given me all the strength. She maintained her composure and supported me in tough times.

As this long and difficult war ends, I would like to address a few special words to the American people: Your steadfastness in supporting our insistence on peace with honor has made peace with honor possible.

When the people you love are gone, you’re alone.

When I write a book, I write a book for myself; the reaction is up to the reader. It’s not my business whether people like or dislike it.

I know some people might think it odd – unworthy even – for me to have written a cookbook, but I make no apologies. The U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins thought I had demeaned myself by writing poetry for Hallmark Cards, but I am the people’s poet so I write for the people.

Almost everybody will listen to you when you tell your own story.

I can get where some scientists would say comedians are crazy. What you have to understand: A lot of comedians are dealing with a dark passion. A lot of these are guys coming from a tumultuous life, including myself. Some people need outlets, a way to express yourself.

If you are not being bullied all I would say – cause I like to talk about the other side of it as well – is you know, be someone that nurtures, and if there’s someone in your class that maybe doesn’t have a lot of friends, be the person that sits with them in the cafeteria sometimes; be the bigger person.

My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will, never, never surrender to what is right.

The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up.

The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.

Art was, seriously, the only thing I’d ever wanted to own. It has always been for me a stable nourishment. I use it. It can change the way that I feel in the mornings.

Neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering.

By imposing too great a responsibility, or rather, all responsibility, on yourself, you crush yourself.

There’s something about being in front of a live audience that’s fun. It’s a really interesting, very electric, very alive, and intense experience, and you can’t get it anywhere else. And I’ve been doing it since I was 23, so it’s part of my being – it’s part of my fabric as a person.

When you get angry, your options narrow.

It’s very inexpensive to give a compliment.

War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.

I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.

The story with anorexic girls – nobody works with anorexic girls. That has nothing to do with fashion.

We had problems like all families but we had a lot of love. I was extremely loved. We always felt we had each other.

My husband and I had to raise five of my younger brothers and sisters. They lived with us. We sent them to school.

I just think it’s so important not to take yourself too seriously.

One of the things you’re doing when you make art, apart from entertaining yourself and other people, is trying to see what ways of working feel good, what feels right.

We humans have lost the wisdom of genuinely resting and relaxing. We worry too much. We don’t allow our bodies to heal, and we don’t allow our minds and hearts to heal.

God knows what we are going through when we grieve, and He wants to assure us of His love and concern. He also wants us to turn to Him and bring our heartaches and burdens to Him.

Do not laugh much or often or unrestrainedly.

I don’t like being alone.

The outpouring of support from millions of people in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti has been impressive.

I can live for two months on a good compliment.

I felt like, for so many years – and I still even feel it – as a girl, you can’t really expect to go on stage and dress like a boy and jump around and scream with the audience and mosh and stuff, and every time that happens, I feel really proud.