I have surrounded myself with very smart people.

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

I’m still living at least five parallel lives, honestly! I wonder about it. I have no idea how that happens.

I’ve had a few semi-toxic relationships, but it’s not what I look for when I’m seeing someone.

Start wide, expand further, and never look back.

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

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

A man’s growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

To live is to find out for yourself what is true, and you can do this only when there is freedom, when there is continuous revolution inwardly, within yourself.

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 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.‘

Some like to think that a keen appreciation of art can actually make us better people – more just, more moral, more sensitive, more understanding. Perhaps that is true – in certain rare, isolated cases.

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.

I’m all about evolution. I’m the first person to judge myself.

I always wanted a family.

I could imagine at a certain age, when I have no vocal cords left, that I would find a young man who could sing my parts for me. But I don’t see why I would stop.

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.

If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.

Every now and then I read a poem that does touch something in me, but I never turn to poetry for solace or pleasure in the way that I throw myself into prose.

Some days I totally appreciate everything that’s happening to me, and some days I feel everyone’s waiting for me to mess up.

If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.

I think if I did something in the pop world right now, it would be for Rihanna. I’d love to do something production wise for her.

Everything’s intentional. It’s just filling in the dots.

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

When people get taken over by the ego to such an extent, there is nothing else in their mind except the ego. They can no longer feel or sense their humanity – what they share with other human beings, or even with other life forms on the planet. They are so identified with concepts in their minds that other human beings become concepts as well.

Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by action alone.

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.

It was completely fruitless to quarrel with the world, whereas the quarrel with oneself was occasionally fruitful and always, she had to admit, interesting.

It’s normal for human beings to identify with their own separate self. The problem is that we get caught in that notion of ourself as a separate individual and caught in that individual self’s agenda.

I have a terrifying long list of fears. Literally everything – diseases, spiders… and people getting tired of me.

I had my moments of being humiliated, and then I had moments of doing something humiliating. I’m glad I lived out both roles.

In search of my mother’s garden, I found my own.

Don’t feel sorry for me.

Individuals need to be willing to face truth about their attitudes, behaviors, even what we want out of life.

The world is full of willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.

Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.

I always entertain the notion that I’m wrong, or that I’ll have to revise my opinion. Most of the time that feels good; sometimes it really hurts and is embarrassing.

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

Every great person is always being helped by everybody; for their gift is to get good out of all things and all persons.

I’ve done the bad-boy thing. It was fun for a good three months. But the thing about bad boys is, you have to keep in mind, you’re never gonna marry a bad boy.

A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.

If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.

Any experience that touches you, in any particular way, is good. It can be a horrible experience.

He who angers you conquers you.

As a kid from Compton, you can get all the success in the world and still question your worth.

The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days.

I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. I’m really confused now.

The best thing I did was to choose the right heroes.

We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork, you must make a decision.

Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful.

Secretly we’re all a little more absurd than we make ourselves out to be.

I’m not going to stop having problems.

The way is long if one follows precepts, but short… if one follows patterns.

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.

I think there is a lot made out of age, and what age you feel.

I spent most of the early years of my walk with God focused on what was wrong with me. Most of us probably do that, hoping to change ourselves.

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

Language ought to be the joint creation of poets and manual workers.

My purpose is to help people look at themselves and begin to shift their concepts. Remember, we are not our country, our race, or religion. We are eternal spirits. Seeing ourselves as spiritual beings without label is a way to transform the world and reach a sacred place for all of humanity.

We do not yet possess ourselves, and we know at the same time that we are much more.