I would like to fly in space. Absolutely. That would be cool. I used to just do personally risky things, but now I’ve got kids and responsibilities, so I can’t be my own test pilot. That wouldn’t be a good idea. But I definitely want to fly as soon as it’s a sensible thing to do.

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.

I’ve never been a jealous person, and I’ve never felt built up by someone else’s failure – that’s a cheap thrill.

Treat your children like the blessings they are or don’t have them at all.

I was bullied as a boy – lots of kids are, but hopefully most of us get on with our lives and grow up.

If a woman can, by careful selection of a father and nourishment of herself, produce a citizen with efficient senses, sound organs and a good digestion, she should clearly be secured a sufficient reward for that natural service to make her willing to undertake and repeat it.

Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

In past generations, people would try to play younger than they really are. My trick is, I don’t try to play younger than I really am.

All the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.

I shall the effect of this good lesson keeps as watchman to my heart.

People change because of kids. They change how they eat. They change the way they think. They change the way they see one another.

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.

We all have experiences in our lives that change us, and we all learn from people, like my dad, but at the end of the day, it’s only us. And we’re only responsible to make ourselves happy.

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

Conflict cannot survive without your participation.

Hair is about when you’re younger. I am my hair.

I think so many people live their whole life in fear and doubt and shame.

I try to be the same person I was yesterday.

I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.

She never envisioned a legal career for me, but she did think it was very important that I be able to support myself, and I think she would be pleased to see what has become of me.

Never complain. Never explain.

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.

Learn to say ‚no‘ to the good so you can say ‚yes‘ to the best.

I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850.

For me, there is no such thing as a negative experience.

Education must provide the opportunities for self-fulfillment; it can at best provide a rich and challenging environment for the individual to explore, in his own way.

I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.

Mine is better than ours.

I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else – God is in this person’s life. You can – you must – try to seek God in every human life.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

Before finding music, I didn’t have too many aspirations. I wanted to hang out, make a little money from whatever I had to do.

The man who is dissatisfied with himself, what can he do?

Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.

Who in their infinite wisdom decreed that Little League uniforms be white? Certainly not a mother.

Sometimes you need faith and victory spoken over your life. Words have created power. When you receive them into your spirit, they can ignite seeds of increase on the inside.

I don’t think I’m bad for people. If I did think I was bad for people, I would go back to driving a truck, and I really mean this.

Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it… that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.

I believe in believing. My coach John Kavanagh is a big atheist, and he is always trying to persuade people to his way of thinking, and I think, ‚What a waste of energy.‘ If people want to believe in this god or that god, that’s fine by me; believe away. But I think we can be our own gods. I believe in myself.

Vanity is great motivation, to be fair.

It’s an offseason. These days are valuable for everybody.

I’m very, very serious – I’m serious enough not to take myself too seriously. That means I can be completely wedded to the moment. But when I leave that moment, I want to be completely wedded to the next moment.

Now I realize that from ’72 through to about ’76, I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn’t have been more rock star.

You can bear your own faults, and why not a fault in your wife?

Your attitude towards failure determines your altitude after failure.

The greatest enemy of any one of our truths may be the rest of our truths.

I think I have a dualistic nature.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

I like the idea of making a big, fun, adventure type of movie.

I understand aggressiveness in only one way: being prepared to hurt yourself, not someone else.

It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.

I’ve always felt heroic about my life… As a child, I remember little girls in the playground moaning about how boys could do more than they could. I didn’t think that was the case at all. My parents didn’t treat me as a girl.

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

I have no time to think about other writers. I am too busy with my own problems.

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.

I don’t think human beings learn anything without desperation. Desperation is a necessary ingredient to learning anything or creating anything. Period. If you ain’t desperate at some point, you ain’t interesting.

It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.

I have no problem yelling at anybody’s kid – free of charge!

I don’t have any secrets I need kept any more.

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.