I know I do not exaggerate, unconsciously and unintentionally, the scantiness of my resources and the difficulty of my life… I know that, but for the mercy of God, I might easily have been, for any care that was taken of me, a little robber or a vagabond.

You are important enough to ask and you are blessed enough to receive back.

Living big and joyful and content is almost always the result of our finding satisfaction in life’s ordinary day-to-day pleasures. And God must be fond of them, too, for He made so many of them for us to enjoy.

‚American Graffiti‘ was unpleasant because of the fact that there was no money, no time, and I was compromising myself to death.

I guess I’m living in the present more than the past.

It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.

I don’t like to read things that people write about me. I’d rather read what kids have to say about me because it’s not their profession to do that.

When you focus on how wonderful God is and all the great things He’s done… is doing… and even will do in your life, your natural response will be praise, adoration and awe. Don’t let yourself ever get used to it… stay amazed!

I do suffer from depression, I suppose. Which isn’t that unusual. You know, a lot of people do.

Your Highest Self is not just an idea that sounds lofty and spiritual. It is a way of being. It is the very first principle that you must come to understand and embrace as you move toward attracting to you that which you want and need for this parenthesis in eternity that you know as your life.

I change my mind a lot. I usually don’t agree with what I say very much. I’m an awful liar.

My husband has quite simply been my strength and stay all these years, and I owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim.

As a lifestyle you always being the focal point is innately unhealthy.

Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.

There will always be something to ruin our lives, it all depends on what or which finds us first. We are always ripe and ready to be taken.

If I have done the public any service, it is due to my patient thought.

Because you know when you first become famous, you start walking a little different because people are staring at you.

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

In this business you have to develop a thick skin, but I’m always going to feel everything. It’s my nature.

The proper study of Man is anything but Man; and the most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.

The more in harmony with yourself you are, the more joyful you are and the more faithful you are. Faith is not to disconnect you from reality – it connects you to reality.

When you are angry or frustrated, what comes out? Whatever it is, it’s a good indication of what you’re made of.

To be conscious means not simply to be, but to be reported, known, to have awareness of one’s being added to that being.

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.

I had no talent for science. What was infinitely worse: all my fraternity brothers were engineers.

I think I’ve developed, as many people do, this sense of, ‚Don’t say the wrong thing, or else people will point at you and laugh.‘

There are slavish souls who carry their appreciation for favors done them so far that they strangle themselves with the rope of gratitude.

Don’t let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn’t go with it.

If we’re really honest with ourselves, most of us will admit that we want to impress people, and this is what’s causing us to do what we do.

Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? I know no speck so troublesome as self.

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

Everyone now knows how to find the meaning of life within himself. But mankind wasn’t always so lucky. Less than a century ago, men and women did not have easy access to the puzzle boxes within them.

The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.

Getting in and out of the car with the halo takes a bit of experience. I struggled initially, but after a few trial runs I was fine.

It is a great shock at the age of five or six to find that in a world of Gary Coopers you are the Indian.

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

I didn’t die young. So I am very lucky. There are other artists and people that didn’t survive certain things… people can imagine that I did the most dangerous, and I did the worst… for many reasons, I shouldn’t be here.

When someone bestows something on you, no matter how true it is, when someone says, ‚Sexiest Man Alive,‘ I’m honestly going, ‚Thank you. Right on.‘ For me, it’s never canceled out anything, it’s never made me go, ‚Does this make me less talented of an actor?‘

I have trouble with letting go. That’s my problem.

Fear keeps us focused on the past or worried about the future. If we can acknowledge our fear, we can realize that right now we are okay. Right now, today, we are still alive, and our bodies are working marvelously. Our eyes can still see the beautiful sky. Our ears can still hear the voices of our loved ones.

It is only in our decisions that we are important.

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.

Happiness is within the reach of everyone, rich or poor. Yet comparatively few people are happy. I believe the reason for this is that the majority don’t recognize happiness even when it is within their grasp.

Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for a time, leave us the weaker ever after.

I’m thankful for the incredible advances in medicine that have taken place during my lifetime. I almost certainly wouldn’t still be here if it weren’t for them.

Hollywood is not suited for me, and I am not suited for it.

Somebody’s boring me. I think it’s me.

Silence is a source of great strength.

The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don’t mean doubt of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of the relationship of what he can say and what he can do.

There are a lot of people who don’t know me and what I am all about.

True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.

I think I’m pretty smart. I think I’m pretty clever. But there’s a lot that you hone in on when you finish your education.

My overall look on things is a lot more mature than it used to be.

Modesty is a learned affectation. And as soon as life slams the modest person against the wall, that modesty drops.

Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes with it.

Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.

Before you try to keep up with the Joneses, be sure they’re not trying to keep up with you.

I put my flaws on front street. So the world accepted my flaws, so I don’t have any flaws.

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.

The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it.

Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.