I had a period where I thought I might not be good enough to publish.

I don’t have to show anything to anyone. There is nothing to prove.

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

I believe that singing is the key to long life, a good figure, a stable temperament, increased intelligence, new friends, super self-confidence, heightened sexual attractiveness, and a better sense of humor.

If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.

I don’t know if I’ve ever cared much what others think.

I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.

The fact is that since you’re a divine creation who originated in the world of Spirit, you have exactly the right amount of smarts to accomplish all that you need and want to do while you’re here on earth. It’s all perfect… and so are you!

I always hated how I looked on camera. I never put a face to my music, which actually made the music that much more mysterious.

My philosophy is it’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am, and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.

The expression a woman wears on her face is far more important than the clothes she wears on her back.

You don’t carry in your countenance a letter of recommendation.

What destroys more self-confidence than any other educational thing in America is being assigned to some remedial math when you get into some college, and then it’s not taught very well and you end up with this sense of, ‚Hey, I can’t really figure those things out.‘

I think it’s OK to be confident in yourself.

I’m not intimidated by how people perceive me.

I started writing as a child. But I didn’t think of myself actually writing until I was in college. And I had gone to Africa as a sophomore or something – no, maybe junior – and wrote a book of poems. And that was my beginning. I published that book.

True politeness consists in being easy one’s self, and in making every one about one as easy as one can.

I don’t dabble and spend much mind or time dealing with, I don’t know, people’s perceptions of me. I truly don’t.

I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.

Forty is when you actually begin even deserving to be on stage telling people what you think.

You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.

In the book of Gaga, fame is in your heart, fame is there to comfort you, to bring you self-confidence and worth whenever you need it.

Me not finishing school – in my head, I still have this insecurity when I’m talking to someone educated.

I thought one should have the attitude of ‚What do you care what other people think!‘

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.

No woman should ever be quite accurate about her age. It looks so calculating.

Real beauty knocks you a little bit off kilter.

There are people out there who hate me and who say I’m arrogant, vain, and whatever. That’s all part of my success. I am made to be the best.

I’m mortified to be on the stage, but then again, it’s the only place where I’m happy.

I was very blessed to have family and friends, but particularly family, who told me I was not only all right, I was just right, so I believe that my brain is a good one, and it’s lasting me very well.

I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one.

To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.

I’m not really concerned with portraying this tough warrior – I mean, that’s part of my job and I take that very seriously. But I don’t have anything to hide, and I’m not concerned with what people think.

It takes more than just a good looking body. You’ve got to have the heart and soul to go with it.

How can any man be weak who dares to be at all?

I believe that I’m one of the best in the world at what I do, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be.

You make yourself broad. You make yourself appealing. ‚Hey, y’all, I’m cool with everybody.‘ That’s my message.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

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.

You don’t have to be somebody different to be important. You’re important in your own right.

When I was into my 30s, I became increasingly depressed by rejection letters. I had had the feeling that by the time I was 30, I would be established. But I was not at all. By the time of ‚Lives of Girls and Women,‘ I was into my 40s and I had become more thin-skinned.

There’s very little advice in men’s magazines, because men don’t think there’s a lot they don’t know. Women do. Women want to learn. Men think, ‚I know what I’m doing, just show me somebody naked.‘

I don’t even like showing my stuff to publishers and editors much.

‚Royal Beatings‘ was my first story, and it was published in 1977. But I sent all my early stories to ‚The New Yorker‘ in the 1950s, and then I stopped sending for a long time and sent only to magazines in Canada. ‚The New Yorker‘ sent me nice notes, though – penciled, informal messages. They never signed them. They weren’t terribly encouraging.

I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.

I still think I am the greatest.

I never thought about what people would say about me. I was just a young guy who was excited to become a comedian and an actor, and I just wanted to get to do what I got to do.

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.

Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.

I don’t ever feel like the cool kid at the party, ever. It’s like, ‚Smile and be nice to everybody, because you were not invited to be here.‘

I think I’ve developed, as many people do, this sense of, ‚Don’t say the wrong thing, or else people will point at you and laugh.‘

Don’t ever forget two things I’m going to tell you. One, don’t believe everything that’s written about you. Two, don’t pick up too many checks.

I’m the greatest thing that ever lived! I’m the king of the world! I’m a bad man. I’m the prettiest thing that ever lived.

I want the world to see my body.

You have to just accept your body. You may not love it all the way, but you just have to be comfortable with it, comfortable with knowing that that’s your body.

I always have to be writing.

The best way to sell yourself to others is first to sell the others to yourself.

Much publishing is done through politics, friends, and natural stupidity.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.