I hope not to define myself by suffering.

There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.

I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose, because settling is the worst feeling in the world.

The people in my songs are all me.

The reason that I’m here at all is because of my relationship with my family and their encouragement of me to be a musician and to work hard. As long as I stay there in that space, I can do anything. That’s my truth.

If you sit there and have that mentality of ‚triple down on what you’re good at,‘ you’re never going to grow. You’re always going to stay the same.

The question of sexual dominance can exist only in the nightmare of that soul which has armed itself, totally, against the possibility of the changing motion of conquest and surrender, which is love.

We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.

It always remains true that if we had been greater, circumstance would have been less strong against us.

I am a little too absorbed by science to be able to philosophise much; but the more I look into myself, the more I find myself possessed by the conviction that it is only the science of Christ running through all things, that is to say true mystical science, that really matters. I let myself get caught up in the game when I geologise.

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

Everything is political. I will never be a politician or even think political. Me just deal with life and nature. That is the greatest thing to me.

An employer of mine back in the ’80s was kind enough to take me on after a rough patch, and it made a big difference in my life that I knew I was the sort of person who showed up on time. It’s a basic tell of character.

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.

He who knows best knows how little he knows.

Character is power.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

I’m not a person that socializes very well.

It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure on the world.

When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.

I know I want to always do the best I can.

Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past.

Be a player; don’t play yourself. And don’t play basketball. That’s not your sport, Jeb Bush.

The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.

The superior man is distressed by the limitations of his ability; he is not distressed by the fact that men do not recognize the ability that he has.

The faults of a superior person are like the sun and moon. They have their faults, and everyone sees them; they change and everyone looks up to them.

Man’s task is to become conscious of the contents that press upward from the unconscious.

Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you never see it?

I’m not afraid to look like an idiot.

Do whatever you will, but first be such as are able to will.

If you’ve lost your spirit, even living in the richest country in the world can’t help you become rich.

We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are.

It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.

I owe my solitude to other people.

I’m not trying to follow a set of rules and stuff. I’m just living my life.

I have never been able to renounce the light, the pleasure of being, and the freedom in which I grew up.

I am not a particularly thick-skinned person.

I try to be the same person I was yesterday.

The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk.

In 7th grade, I believe, I wrote my first rap song. It was about everything I was seeing, everything that was going on around me.

He who gives away shall have real gain. He who subdues himself shall be free; he shall cease to be a slave of passions. The righteous man casts off evil, and by rooting out lust, bitterness, and illusion do we reach Nirvana.

I don’t think I will ever be content. I am somebody who is always hungry.

Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

The value of beauty and inspiration is very much underrated, no question. But I want to be clear: I’m not trying to be anyone’s savior. I’m just trying to think about the future and not be sad.

I have many regrets, and I’m sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret… if you have any sense, and if you don’t regret them, maybe you’re stupid.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

I would rather make my name than inherit it.

To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.

My freshman and sophomore years in high school, I spent a lot of time trying to get back on the right track. I was arrested multiple times by the time I was 16, so I had a little harder time trying to adjust like a lot of us do in high school.

All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.

Prayer doesn’t just change things – it changes us. If we are diligent in seeking God, slowly and surely we become better people.

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

You can be happy where you are.

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

All my adult life people have been helping me.