I let people fill in the blanks on their own. If they want to think about their ex, that’s fine. If they want to think about maybe who one of my exes is, then that’s fine. And it might not be right, because I’m the only one who knows what these songs are really about. It’s the one shred of privacy I have in the matter.

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

I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.

Never complain and never explain.

Adopt responsibility for your own well-being, try to put your family together, try to serve your community, try to seek for eternal truth… That’s the sort of thing that can ground you in your life, enough so that you can withstand the difficulty of life.

I’m home a lot. Because I live in Ireland, we can live under the celebrity radar. I might go missing for a whole year.

It’s dangerous to read the Internet about yourself when you’re me. Or when you’re anyone in the public eye.

I think it’s very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything’s going to be all right, even when you’re not sure it is.

I wrote my first song at 12 and remember someone asking, ‚What were you going through at 12 that you could write about?‘ I get what you’re saying, but 11, 12, 13 were the hardest years of my life. You learn everything. You learn how horrible things feel.

I never come back home with the same moral character I went out with; something or other becomes unsettled where I had achieved internal peace; some one or other of the things I had put to flight reappears on the scene.

All of our problems start in our minds.

I feel confident imposing change on myself. It’s a lot more fun progressing than looking back. That’s why I need to throw curve balls.

Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.

It’s more interesting for me to figure out how to be superior in areas where I’m naive, where I’m a novice.

If you look at my life, generally, I’ve been put in situations which were difficult and which I conquered.

I always try to be myself. Ever since I was an introverted kid, I’d get on stage and be able to break out of my shell.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.

I don’t think I’m an unlucky person.

What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven.

Transformation literally means going beyond your form.

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting.

I’m an introvert somewhat. There could be a room full of people, I’ll go stand in the corner.

Always do what you are afraid to do.

How do I confront aging? With a wonder and a terror. Yeah, I’ll say that. Wonder and terror.

I think that when you’re making your way up in the music industry, you have all these heroes and the reasons why they are your heroes. As soon as you get into the industry, your guidelines change a little bit. For me, my heroes now are great people first and great artists second.

At 30 a man should know himself like the palm of his hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures – be what he is. And, above all, accept these things.

If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground.

I’ve always felt that if I examine myself too much, I’ll find out what I know and don’t know, and I’ll burst the bubble. I’ve gotten so lucky relying on my animal instincts, I’d rather keep a little bit of the animal alive.

My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.

My mother did not like children.

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

Getting a great idea with song writing is a lot like love. You don’t know why this one is different, but it is. You don’t know why this one is better, but it is. It sticks in your head, and you can’t stop thinking about it.

Even the securest financial plan and the finest health coverage aren’t enough to hold us steady when the challenges come… We need something more, something deeper and unshakeable, something that will see us through life’s hard times.

I learned that very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.

There is a fine balance between honoring the past and losing yourself in it. For example, you can acknowledge and learn from mistakes you made, and then move on and refocus on the now. It is called forgiving yourself.

The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous, and I never dreamt I would be famous.

Everyone has at least one story, and each of us is funny if we admit it. You have to admit you’re the funniest person you’ve ever heard of.

I’ve never had that much trouble with the paparazzi, but I don’t run the same circles that a lot of these people that do get hounded by the paparazzi.

People can try to reinvent themselves. I don’t think you can really change who you are, though, because who you are is pretty much where you came from and what you’ve done up to now.

All wrong-doing arises because of mind. If mind is transformed can wrong-doing remain?

It is true we have won all our wars, but we have paid for them. We don’t want victories anymore.

Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.

It’s still scary every time I go back to the past. Each morning, my heart catches. When I get there, I remember how the light was, where the draft was coming from, what odors were in the air. When I write, I get all the weeping out.

There are people in the world who have skills and strength and talent that I will never have. Never. These notions that you can ‚be whatever you want to be as long as you want it bad enough‘ are not true. They are fairy tales.

Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.

The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.

Sports are such a great teacher. I think of everything they’ve taught me: camaraderie, humility, how to resolve differences.

I don’t want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.

I do sometimes look back at things I’ve written in the past, and think, ‚I just don’t remember being the person who wrote that.‘

I’ve been careful in love. I’ve been careless in love. And I’ve had adventures I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Naturally, everybody has certain things they wish they hadn’t done in life. They wish they hadn’t kicked their dog when they were ten or something.

I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That’s my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it’s not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.

Either you’re the one erasing or you’re the one being erased.

You don’t have the same mentality as you did five years ago – even one year. People are always changing, and I believe that everyone deserves the space to change and for people to recognize their change.

I can do whatever I want.

Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice… No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out.

To do the same thing over and over again is not only boredom: it is to be controlled by rather than to control what you do.

First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.

Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough.

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.