I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.

I am my own sanctuary and I can be reborn as many times as I choose throughout my life.

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.

Real riches are the riches possessed inside.

If every choice you make comes from an honest place, you’re solid, and nothing anybody can say about you can rock you or change your opinion.

The word ‚happy‘ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

I’m not critic-proof, and I still take it personally, but I take it less personally now.

It is normal to give away a little of one’s life in order not to lose it all.

The choicest pleasures of life lie within the ring of moderation.

We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.

Nature abhors annihilation.

The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. Somebody who may not look like you. May not call God the same name you call God – if they call God at all. I may not dance your dances or speak your language. But be a blessing to somebody. That’s what I think.

Thirty was so strange for me. I’ve really had to come to terms with the fact that I am now a walking and talking adult.

In the literal sense, there has been no relevant evolution since the trek from Africa. But there has been substantial progress towards higher standards of rights, justice and freedom – along with all too many illustrations of how remote is the goal of a decent society.

Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us… While what we call ‚our own life‘ remains agreeable, we will not surrender it to Him. What, then, can God do in our interests but make ‚our own life‘ less agreeable to us, and take away the plausible sources of false happiness?

There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.

God has entrusted me with myself.

Thirty-three-years-old, still creating art. It’s rage, it’s creativity, it’s pain, it’s hurt, but it’s the opportunity to still have my voice get out there through music.

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.

A lot of the problems I had with fame I was bringing on myself. A lot of self-loathing, a lot of woe-is-me. Now I’m learning to see the positive side of things, instead of, like, ‚I can’t go to Kmart. I can’t take my kids to the haunted house.‘

Slavery takes hold of few, but many take hold of slavery.

I’d like to be known for more than being the guy in the big suit.

Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains.

I grew up as this very carefree, happy kid then things turned darker for me. Maybe it was because I saw that the world wasn’t as happy a place as I had hoped it would be for me.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

I don’t live by all these rigid, weird rules that make me feel all fenced in. I just like the way that I feel like, and that makes me feel very free.

Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

I’ve always had a problem with the average macho man – they’ve always been a threat to me.

I’m one of the world’s most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.

I don’t ever want to be caught up in a system of thinking I can do one thing ‚cos that’s just… that’s just telling yourself a lie.

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in.

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

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Fiction is such a world of freedom, it’s wonderful. If you want someone to fly, they can fly.

Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and to do more.

Anyone who has declared someone else to be an idiot, a bad apple, is annoyed when it turns out in the end that he isn’t.

My moms always told me, ‚How long you gonna play the victim?‘ I can say I’m mad and I hate everything, but nothing really changes until I change myself.

It’s hard for anybody who’s been with me not to feel starved for affection when I’m making love to my ideas. Maybe it’s not meant for me to settle down and be married.

Do not think of your faults, still less of other’s faults; look for what is good and strong, and try to imitate it. Your faults will drop off, like dead leaves, when their time comes.

Good intentions never change anything. They only become a deeper and deeper rut.

The best advice comes from people who don’t give advice.

Freedom without limits is just a word.

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.

I want to solidify as an artist and show that as I grow as a person and make mistakes and learn from them, I’m going to grow artistically.

I intend to inspire people with my story: motivate young people that grew up like myself, or even not like myself. Just, you know, go through the human experience.

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.

To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can do for those who study it.

I’ve learned that we all change constantly. It’s rare to find that person who is growing with you in the same way at the same time, who encourages you to grow.

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.

Nobody can tell me where I can and can’t go.

What I have in common with the character in ‚Truman‘ is this incredible need to please people. I feel like I want to take care of everyone and I also feel this terrible guilt if I am unable to. And I have felt this way ever since all this success started.

Man, so long as he remains free, has no more constant and agonizing anxiety than find as quickly as possible someone to worship.

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.

Those who know me know I’m passionate about lists, and top of my list of priorities is my family. My wife Joan and I do not consider our legacy to our children to be wealth or fame but the opportunity to pursue happiness by following their own path.

I’m not arrogant enough to look back on my career and criticize my choices. It’s really not my place.

It’s true my father abused me and didn’t love and protect me the way he should have, and at times it seemed no one would ever help me and it would never end. But God always had a plan for my life, and He has redeemed me.

Many people know so little about what is beyond their short range of experience. They look within themselves – and find nothing! Therefore they conclude that there is nothing outside themselves either.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

I think the worst part about a breakup sometimes, if one could choose a worst part, would possibly be if you get out of a relationship, and you don’t recognize yourself because you changed a lot about you.