I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.

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.

It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

I wanted to imbue Ziggy with real flesh and blood and muscle, and it was imperative that I find Ziggy and be him.

You cannot make a sinner into a saint by killing him. He who does not live as a saint here will never live as a saint hereafter.

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

We were poor, but we smiled.

A warrior is not a person that carries a gun. The biggest war you ever go through is right between your own ears. It’s in your mind. We’re all going through a war in our mind, and we have to callus our mind to fight that war and to win that war.

Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born.

Thoughts are mental energy; they’re the currency that you have to attract what you desire. Learn to stop spending that currency on thoughts you don’t want.

I never saw myself as a folk singer.

Face your fears and doubts, and new worlds will open to you.

If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.

It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.

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.

You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.

When I do good I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad, and that’s my religion.

There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

There are some Christian people who taste and see and enjoy religion in their own souls, and who get at a deeper knowledge of it than books can ever give them, though they should search all their days.

I shall never be a heretic; I may err in dispute, but I do not wish to decide anything finally; on the other hand, I am not bound by the opinions of men.

Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

What comes out when life squeezes you? When someone hurts or offends you? If anger, pain and fear come out of you, it’s because that’s what’s inside.

Create a ladder of values and priorities in your life, reminding yourself of what really matters to you.

What you have outside you counts less than what you have inside you.

In all my work, in the movies I write, the lyrics, the poetry, the prose, the essays, I am saying that we may encounter many defeats – maybe it’s imperative that we encounter the defeats – but we are much stronger than we appear to be and maybe much better than we allow ourselves to be. Human beings are more alike than unalike.

All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?

Without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn from our mistakes. To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life.

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

It’s always a struggle growing up in Akron.

Because my dad abused me, I was determined to never let a man tell me what to do. God clearly showed me that I needed to be a submissive wife if I wanted to be effective in ministry. The truth is, if we don’t learn to submit to authority, we won’t ever learn to submit to God.

Remember you are just an extra in everyone else’s play.

Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic.

They died hard, those savage men – like wounded wolves at bay. They were filthy, and they were lousy, and they stunk. And I loved them.

Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.

Because forgiveness is like this: a room can be dank because you have closed the windows, you’ve closed the curtains. But the sun is shining outside, and the air is fresh outside. In order to get that fresh air, you have to get up and open the window and draw the curtains apart.

My view is there’s no bad time to innovate.

Sometimes you need faith and victory spoken over your life. Words have created power. When you receive them into your spirit, they can ignite seeds of increase on the inside.

Theology is unnecessary.

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.

I’d rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

I do not know whether there are gods, but there ought to be.

I believe in the battle-whether it’s the battle of a campaign or the battle of this office, which is a continuing battle.

No sanction can stand against ignited minds.

One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.

I love my friends and my past, and it’s made me who I am.

Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome.

He who is contented is rich.

My one big regret is that I didn’t play on for ten more years.

Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.

Satan wants us to constantly focus on everything that is wrong with us and look at how far we still have to go. But God desires for us to rejoice in how far we have already come.

Until you have formed the habit of looking for the good instead of the bad there is in others, you will be neither successful nor happy.

I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have.

Anyone who has declared someone else to be an idiot, a bad apple, is annoyed when it turns out in the end that he isn’t.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

I’m not happy all the time, and I wouldn’t want to be because that would make me a shallow person. But I do try to find the good in everybody.

If I wouldn’t have found Courtney, I probably would have carried on with a bisexual lifestyle.