I haven’t changed at all. I’m the same as when I was 11.

When I write about a 15-year old, I jump, I return to the days when I was that age. It’s like a time machine. I can remember everything. I can feel the wind. I can smell the air. Very actually. Very vividly.

If somebody thinks they’re a hedgehog, presumably you just give ‚em a mirror and a few pictures of hedgehogs and tell them to sort it out for themselves.

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

What is normal? Normal was yesterday. If you lose a leg, one day you’re hopping around on one leg, so you know the difference.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

I really do feel part of America to my very bones; at the same time, I know that I come from somewhere else.

I can handle pain.

You know, it’s not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.

No one has the right to be sorry for himself for a misfortune that strikes everyone.

When I was 8 years old, I saw ‚Raiders of the Lost Ark‘ in Charlotte, North Carolina. I walked out of there and was so inspired. I loved the movie, and I knew I wanted to be that guy.

In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.

Marriage destroyed my relationship with two wonderful men.

At 50, I began to know who I was. It was like waking up to myself.

I don’t really regard myself as a political figure.

Prospering just doesn’t have to do with money.

I like to write about love and love lost because I feel like there are so many different subcategories of emotions that you can possibly delve into.

I’m not critic-proof, and I still take it personally, but I take it less personally now.

I am not the humblest person in the world. I admit that.

He knows my limitations and where I’m a good wife and a good mom.

Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves.

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

The spirit is there in every boy; it has to be discovered and brought to light.

Do you wish people to think well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.

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

Some people would like me to be round again.

We Jews have a secret weapon in our struggle with the Arabs; we have no place to go.

I was bullied as a boy – lots of kids are, but hopefully most of us get on with our lives and grow up.

Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.

The Bible tells us to be perfect. This is likely a scary thought for many people. It used to scare me. I didn’t think I could ever get there, no matter how hard I tried.

Getting recognized is insane. It just blows my mind. Like, someone who you don’t know at all can just be like, ‚Oh my God – are you Billie?‘

I had a rat-tail when I was younger. I had this nice Bobby Brown fade, with a rat-tail that was long enough to wrap around my face. I used to chew on the end and bite it.

We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that’s the thread that we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread.

Let us not forget who we are. Drug abuse is a repudiation of everything America is.

I’m of the school of thought where if you can’t sort something out for yourself then no one can help 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.

Most of my young years were spent under the boots of the military.

I’m tender on the inside.

The fact that you are willing to say, ‚I do not understand, and it is fine,‘ is the greatest understanding you could exhibit.

The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.

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.‘

The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.

Many people think of perfectionism as striving to be your best, but it is not about self-improvement; it’s about earning approval and acceptance.

People think I’m a celebrity. I’m not a celebrity.

I don’t want to just revolve. I want to evolve. As a man, as a human, as a father, as a lover.

Nearly all the things I do that are of any merit at all start off just being good fun, and I think I’m sort of building up to doing something else quite soon.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

Let go of offence. Let go of fear. Let go of revenge. Don’t live angry, let go now!

Control and surrender have to be kept in balance. That’s what surfers do – take control of the situation, then be carried, then take control. In the last few thousand years, we’ve become incredibly adept technically. We’ve treasured the controlling part of ourselves and neglected the surrendering part.

Don’t let the incidents which take place in life bring you low. And certainly don’t whine. You can be brought low, that’s OK, but don’t be reduced by them. Just say, ‚That’s life.‘

I need to keep working on myself for a while.

Live the life you’ve dreamed.

What is true belongs to me!

Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.

I was ironing my own clothes when I was 11 years old. My mental strength goes back to those days.

I never looked at my mantel and envisioned an MVP trophy sitting there. This is pretty crazy.

There’s a gap between what I want to do, what I do on camera, and what gets edited. Right? So the goal is to try and close the gaps. What’s the biggest compliment is if I read a review and it’s exactly what I wrote down in my diary before ever filming it. That’s really cool. That’s the biggest signifier of closing the gaps.

I used to have a real problem with self-pity. Every time the devil would throw a pity party, I would attend.

Our necessities never equal our wants.

Returning to your family and where you came from, and your history… this is what makes you strong. It’s not looking out that’s going to do that – it’s looking in.

I believe in believing. My coach John Kavanagh is a big atheist, and he is always trying to persuade people to his way of thinking, and I think, ‚What a waste of energy.‘ If people want to believe in this god or that god, that’s fine by me; believe away. But I think we can be our own gods. I believe in myself.