I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don’t always agree with them.

I don’t like it when people who are young act like they’re 40. That’s taking too much on. Putting up a shield and trying to act like you’re so mature or whatever – I don’t try to act mature. Some people might say I’m mature for my age, but it’s not something I’m trying to do, you know? I’m just me.

The greatest pride, or the greatest despondency, is the greatest ignorance of one’s self.

People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.

I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850.

Character is power.

I will praise any man that will praise me.

The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.

Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.

I have great respect for the past. If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going. I have respect for the past, but I’m a person of the moment. I’m here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I’m at, then I go forward to the next place.

People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.

If all you’re doing is grinding for the man, it’s going to burden you. Once you say, ‚Hey, I’m grinding for the man, but I’m putting money away, and this is part of my exit strategy,‘ you’re working for you.

One of the things I did when I discovered this huge importance of being vulnerable is very happily moved away from the shame research, because that’s such a downer, and people hate that topic. It’s not that vulnerability is the upside, but it’s better than shame, I guess.

My problem was my inability to spend much time at home. I thought my family was secure, so I went running around everyplace else. I guess I had more of an effect on other people’s kids than I did my own.

I’m the type person, my safe place to be emotional is the booth.

I think I could go away tomorrow. I’ve already accomplished something. It’s such a selfish business that sometimes I get sick of myself.

When I look back over my life it’s almost as if there was a plan laid out for me – from the little girl who was so passionate about animals who longed to go to Africa and whose family couldn’t afford to put her through college. Everyone laughed at my dreams. I was supposed to be a secretary in Bournemouth.

You have to develop ways so that you can take up for yourself, and then you take up for someone else. And so sooner or later, you have enough courage to really stand up for the human race and say, ‚I’m a representative.‘

What the Pope thinks of being gay does not matter to the world. It matters to the people who like the Pope and follow the Pope… It is not a reflection of all religious people.

It’s hard for anybody who’s been with me not to feel starved for affection when I’m making love to my ideas. Maybe it’s not meant for me to settle down and be married.

I’ve been called a recluse. There’s definitely truth in that. I like to spend time alone.

Control your own destiny! Control your own destiny!

I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.

The Sisters of Notre Dame at St. Aloysius Grade School influenced my life tremendously. This was due to the fact that they encouraged you always to make sure that God is the focus of your life, and they didn’t allow you to do anything except to the very best of your ability.

I’m no genius.

Don’t wait for the last judgment – it takes place every day.

The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.

While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.

Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.

Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men must walk, at least, before they dance.

Somewhere deep down there’s a decent man in me, he just can’t be found.

When you cease to exist, then who will you blame?

Things do not change; we change.

You can have the platinum album. But, you know, when you still feel like you haven’t quite found your place in the world, it kind of gives a crazy offset.

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

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.

The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.

I worked with someone who told me they’d never like me. But for some reason, I just felt like I needed her approval. So I started changing myself to please her. It made me stop being social and friendly. I was so unhappy.

Whatever talents I possess may suddenly diminish or suddenly increase. I can with ease become an ordinary fool. I may be one now. But it doesn’t do to upset one’s own vanity.

One advantage in keeping a diary is that you become aware with reassuring clarity of the changes which you constantly suffer.

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.

A person who is truly authentic doesn’t need to play a role in life, we think, but can simply be him – or herself.

Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.

Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice… No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out.

Books are like a mirror. If an ass looks in, you can’t expect an angel to look out.

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

I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.

I don’t tell people, ‚You’re okay the way that you are.‘ That’s not the right story. The right story is, ‚You’re way less than you could be.‘

I don’t dislike any of my exes. If I took time to form a relationship, it’s gonna hurt when we move on, but are you puttin‘ White-Out over all that beautiful time together? That was real time in your life. It’s connected to where you are today.

I may be no better, but at least I am different.

I am very fond of truth, but not at all of martyrdom.

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.

Who can exhaust a man? Who knows a man’s resources?

I think I have always had a little humor.

I’ve never been a jealous person, and I’ve never felt built up by someone else’s failure – that’s a cheap thrill.

I grew up as this very carefree, happy kid then things turned darker for me. Maybe it was because I saw that the world wasn’t as happy a place as I had hoped it would be for me.

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

I’ve always done whatever I want and always been exactly who I am.

I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

Playing Etta James in the movie ‚Cadillac Records‘ really changed me. It was a darker character, and I realized that if anything is too comfortable, I want to run from it. It’s no fun being safe.

Pick the day. Enjoy it – to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come… The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present – and I don’t want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future.