I think I have to trust that you end up with the person you’re supposed to end up with, and that everything in between is there to teach you stuff.

I think, for years, people have been pushed down by religion, and I don’t say that disrespectfully, but they’ve been shown a God that you can’t measure up to.

Plain women know more about men than beautiful women do.

If you have the chance to be exposed to a loving, understanding environment where the seed of compassion, loving kindness, can be watered every day, then you become a more loving person.

I’ve always written. There’s a journal which I kept from about 9 years old. The man who gave it to me lived across the street from the store and kept it when my grandmother’s papers were destroyed. I’d written some essays. I loved poetry, still do. But I really, really loved it then.

My entire childhood was steeped in poverty. For me, poverty, in a way, was the first inspiration of my life, a commitment to do something for the poor.

We are not what we are, nor do we treat or esteem each other for such, but for what we are capable of being.

It’s amazing: I am a New Yorker. It’s strange; I never thought I would be.

I don’t have emotional needs, only physical ones.

A man must now swallow more belief than he can digest.

When I write about a 15-year old, I jump, I return to the days when I was that age. It’s like a time machine. I can remember everything. I can feel the wind. I can smell the air. Very actually. Very vividly.

My family, frankly, they weren’t folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn’t raise me in the church, so I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead.

No man ever quite believes in any other man. One may believe in an idea absolutely, but not in a man.

However happy people say they are, nobody is satisfied: we always have to be with the prettiest woman, buy a bigger house, change cars, desire what we do not have.

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.

People who truly understand what is meant by self-reliance know they must live their lives by ethics rather than rules.

I have a personal ambition to live my life honestly and honor the true love that I’ve had and also the people I’ve had around me.

My ‚fear‘ is my substance, and probably the best part of me.

I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized, and I still had a daughter who I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

When I was making the early stuff, I never expected it to be so big. I was in my own kind of bubble. I never wanted to tour; I just wanted to create music and make a diary I could put out into the world. And sometimes, I became the characters.

I feel real good because it’s about representing the young world and how to uplift each other and how to push us to be greater and make sure we don’t fall or get trapped or get in trouble, you know what I mean. Stay focused, you know what I mean.

Man will do many things to get himself loved, he will do all things to get himself envied.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don’t, they never were.

Is it not important to find out how to listen not only to what is being said but to everything – to the noise in the streets, to the chatter of birds, to the noise of the tramcar, to the restless sea, to the voice of your husband, to your wife, to your friends, to the cry of a baby?

I do believe in the old saying, ‚What does not kill you makes you stronger.‘ Our experiences, good and bad, make us who we are. By overcoming difficulties, we gain strength and maturity.

I’m not a person who defends myself very often. I kind of let my actions speak for me.

Who had deceived thee so often as thyself?

When you are discontent, you always want more, more, more. Your desire can never be satisfied. But when you practice contentment, you can say to yourself, ‚Oh yes – I already have everything that I really need.‘

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life.

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.

The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended-and not to take a hint when a hint isn’t intended.

If you’re not ready for everything, you’re not ready for anything.

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

There should be a point to movies. Sure, you’re giving people a diversion from the cold world for a bit, but at the same time, you pass on some facts and rules and maybe a little bit of wisdom.

Pray, and let God worry.

I’m not afraid to look like an idiot.

I want to put a ding in the universe.

I fear that too many have sadly surrendered their agency to the adversary and are saying by their conduct, ‚I care more about satisfying my own desires than I do about bearing the Savior’s power to bless others.‘

Every man’s reputation proceeds from those of his own household.

I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman.

I have more friends in New York than Paris.

The world can criticize me, but l can always criticize it back.

Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.

I used to tell my husband that, if he could make me ‚understand‘ something, it would be clear to all the other people in the country.

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.

If someone lies, well, you had a choice to trust that person or not. I think the way my father raised me, well, he trusted everybody. And that worked for him.

If I went back to my 20-year-old self, what I would tell my 20-year-old self is, ‚You don’t know anything.‘ Because everyone, when they’re young, they think they know what’s going on in the world, and you don’t.

The world is round so that friendship may encircle it.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

There are a lot of things I never did, because I believe in watching those true Hollywood stories and I see how easy it is to lose track of your life.

True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to the appellation.

The degree of one’s emotions varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts.

One thing about me is I try to be honest.

A man should never neglect his family for business.

I don’t want to be alone, I want to be left alone.

It’s very hard to find your own words – and you don’t actually exist until you have your own words.

As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.

You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.