I never took a day off in my twenties. Not one. And I’m still fanatical, but now I’m a little less fanatical.

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

If we live a self-directed, self-motivated, self-centered life, always needing to get our own way, then we’re going to be miserable. In fact, many times we believe it’s our problems that are making us unhappy when, in reality, it’s because we’re focused on ourselves!

People don’t usually compliment your character.

My father wasn’t perfect. He had a temper. I took some of that. He would snap, but the older he got, he started calming down. He learned about life, but the thing that he taught my whole family was that family was the most important thing and, no matter what, if a family member needs you, you go and help them out; you get there.

When I get married, it’ll be no secret.

I don’t know if I particularly want to be remembered for anything. I personally do not think I’m a great gift to the world. I’ve been very fortunate.

I don’t think it’s possible to have a sense of tragedy without having a sense of humor.

I think that as you grow up, as you get older, we can’t get bitter, we can’t get jaded.

Get mad, then get over it.

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

The first step in a person’s salvation is knowledge of their sin.

If selfishness is the key to being miserable, then selflessness must be the key to being happy!

As a kid from Compton, you can get all the success in the world and still question your worth.

I don’t know how to live good. I only know how to suffer.

I don’t think there’s anyone who would say they don’t want or need more of God’s power in their life.

The real truths of life are never entirely new to you or to anybody because there is a level deep down within you where you already know all the things, all those spiritual truths that you read or hear, and then recognize them. I say ‚recognize‘ because you’re not… it’s not new.

I’m not a fast thinker, but once I am interested in something, I am doing it for many years.

I am a very emotional guy. What I love, I do with all I have.

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.

If you choose to do something, attack it. You can hate me, but there’s one thing you can’t say about me – that I didn’t attack it.

Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out.

Voyagers discover that the world can never be larger than the person that is in the world; but it is impossible to foresee this, it is impossible to be warned.

Doing the box set is one of those things where you get to rewrite your own history to some extent. We could take out some of the songs that we felt weren’t as strong as some of the others, so you look better.

I think I’ve got wiser.

You gotta keep trying to find your niche and trying to fit into whatever slot that’s left for you or to make one of your own.

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn’t a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking.

In a real dark night of the soul, it is always three o’clock in the morning, day after day.

I am not very good with relationships. With anyone. I can’t be locked up with anyone for too long.

Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.

I put a lot of pressure on myself. I think something’s not good enough, and I won’t stop until I feel like I’ve made it. I’m never satisfied.

Prison was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Good entrepreneurs are community builders, actively involved with their communities and dedicated to the community’s well being. If you’re dedicated to your community, it will be dedicated to you.

My lighter, more superficial side will always steal a march on the deeper side and therefore always win. You can’t imagine how often I’ve tried to push away this Anne, which is only half of what is known as Anne – to beat her down, hide her.

I did 20 years in the Navy. I joined the Navy right out of high school and went through Navy boot camp, went to SEAL training, got done with that, and then showed up at a SEAL team, where I did 20 years. That was pretty much my whole adult life.

I remember, when I was a young guy in the SEAL teams, I was very afraid of making mistakes and looking stupid or doing dumb things and getting a bad reputation.

It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today.

I just have always felt that people don’t change, circumstances change.

I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated library in the South, all the way up until I walked up the steps of the New York City library, I always felt, in any town, if I can get to a library, I’ll be OK. It really helped me as a child, and that never left me.

The man who can centre his thoughts and hopes upon something transcending self can find a certain peace in the ordinary troubles of life, which is impossible to the pure egoist.

If it’s going to come out eventually, better have it come out immediately.

The highest result of education is tolerance.

I used to get into a lot of fights.

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

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.

We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.

Starting your own business isn’t just a job – it’s a way of life.

I think a big test we all face in life on a regular basis is that discouragement test. Life’s not always fair, but I believe if you keep doing the right thing, God will get you to where you are.

We do not yet possess ourselves, and we know at the same time that we are much more.

I have to keep improving myself and challenging myself.

That’s something I think is growing on me as I get older: happy endings.

Don’t just let the devil use your mind as a garbage dump.

My life is my message.

Experience does not err. Only your judgments err by expecting from her what is not in her power.

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

If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.

It’s not to much fun to know yourself too well or think you do – everyone needs a little conceit to carry them through & past the falls.

At some point in time, you definitely have to go drama. Not to say that you’re going drama just because everybody else does it. You do it to challenge yourself. You do it because, naturally, in the profession of acting, you want to show growth. You want to say that you take the craft seriously.

I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success… such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.