I know who I am, I know what I can and can’t do. I know what I will and won’t do. I know what I’m capable of and I don’t agree to do things that I don’t think I can pull off.

We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – but never blame yourself. It’s never your fault. But it’s always your fault, because if you wanted to change you’re the one who has got to change.

I am whatever you say I am; if I wasn’t, then why would you say I am.

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.

When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible.

If you don’t stand your ground, then all that happens is people push you backwards.

The fact is, I was never too bright in school. I ain’t ashamed of it, though. I mean, how much do school principals make a month?

Timidity makes a person modest. It makes him or her say, ‚I’m not worthy of being written up in the record of deeds in heaven or on earth.‘ Timidity keeps people from their good. They are afraid to say, ‚Yes, I deserve it.‘

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

There are phases in life which surface at times, and it makes you understand that despite you working hard, everything what you are doing is probably not enough. That’s when you need to look around, and beyond.

It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.

The best author will be the one who is ashamed to become a writer.

If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development.

The only shame is to have none.

It’s easy to become very self-critical when you’re an actor. Then you get critiqued by the critics. Whether you agree with them or not, people are passing judgment on you.

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Silence is a source of great strength.

Lots of songs aren’t even from my experiences, but they’re about accepting… the dark things about yourself.

I just really believe people have to get hungry. I think maybe what we need to do, instead of trying to stuff our beliefs down people’s throats, is just pray for them to really be hungry and to see their neediness.

We identify in our experience a differentiation between what we do and what happens to us.

We are wiser than we know.

I think that once you’ve had a few No. 1s in your career that you’ve kind of proven yourself, and I don’t feel the need to prove anything anymore.

We’re all insecure, aren’t we? I’m not walking around like I’m macho man or anything.

As the father of eight children, I’m quite convinced that each individual arrives here with their own unique personality. We are intended here from an invisible held of infinite potentiality. That which has no form, has no boundaries – it’s the I that’s in the ever-changing body.

The quote-unquote ‚description‘ of a leading man was once your tall, handsome man with the build of whatever, almost a trophy to some degree. I think now it’s about making a leading man what you want a leading man to be. In this day, you can’t deny talent. You look at Jonah Hill, you look at Zach Galifianakis, you look at myself.

Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

Never be ashamed! There’s some who’ll hold it against you, but they’re not worth bothering with.

My goal was never to make Facebook cool. I am not a cool person.

I’m not a marketing person. I don’t ask myself questions. I go by instinct.

What I can say is that all my characters are searching for their souls, because they are my mirrors. I’m someone who is constantly trying to understand my place in the world, and literature is the best way that I found in order to see myself.

I had nothing growing up, but I always wanted to be ‚sexy,‘ even before I knew what the word was.

How simple a thing it seems to me that to know ourselves as we are, we must know our mothers names.

And above all things, never think that you’re not good enough yourself. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life people will take you at your own reckoning.

Humility is to make a right estimate of one’s self.

Create a ladder of values and priorities in your life, reminding yourself of what really matters to you.

I’ve been reckless, but I’m not a rebel without a cause.

Know your worth! People always act like they’re doing more for you than you’re doing for them.

The expression a woman wears on her face is far more important than the clothes she wears on her back.

I even found it difficult to watch myself playing on TV because I couldn’t identify with the person on the screen. I couldn’t get to grips with it. It was as if it was all happening to someone else.

I had a lot of resistance, and not just to fame. I was always conscious of not changing.

Some guys look better as they get older.

Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.

It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is.

You know, my family and friends have never been yes-men: ‚Yes, you’re doing the right thing, you’re always right.‘ No, they tell me when I’m wrong, and that’s why I’ve been able to stay who I am and stay humble.

You may make some mistakes – but that doesn’t make you a sinner. You’ve got the very nature of God on the inside of you.

You don’t have to be like everybody else or do things like everybody else. God created you to be a unique individual, and He wants you to be free to be who He made you to be.

I’m not a centerfold.

I don’t think a lot of people know personally who I am.

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.

I’m super self-critical, which I think is good, because then I get exactly what I want. I’m critical of other people, too – I try not to be, though.

I guess every single word I’ve ever said is going to be dissected now.

In fact, my courage and my bravery at a young age was the thing I was bullied for, a kind of ‚Who do you think you are?‘

I’m no natural beauty. If I’m gonna have any looks at all, I’m gonna have to create them.

Sometimes, people can be extraordinarily judgmental and closed-minded to anyone different or special, which is why it’s so hard for young people in this day and age to be comfortable enough in their own skin to not listen to the people picking on them.

I find with most of my readers are kind of like me, sort of people who were a little bit naive in life and then learned the hard way that this is what’s going on, the political games and most of my readers write to me telling me that the book helped them open their eyes to what other people are doing to them.

You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.

I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb… and I also know that I’m not blonde.

Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature.

I think there is a sense of being forced at this time to look at America’s really large shadow and that’s not all that bad.

Relish everything that’s inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.

The fact is I am not having sex. But I feel absolutely ripe for the, what would you say? plucking?