If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

I’ve never lived my life in the opinion of others. I believe I’m a good person. I believe I’m a good mom. But that’s for my kids to decide, not for the world.

The mind of a 19-year-old is very different from the mind of a 26-year-old. You grow. You get into better relationships. You experience more, meet more people, better people. But when you’re in a dark hole at an earlier point in your life – you write about the mindset you’re in at that moment.

You know, I just do whatever feels right to me! And so that’s what you’re gonna get!

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.

My life has been very full.

I’m not a regrets-type person.

Yeah, I was a delinquent. It was when I was in the ninth grade. I was doing stupid stuff, and the cops came into the class. I was humiliated more than anything.

My message isn’t perfectly defined. I have, as a human being, fallen to peer pressure.

As I get older, I tend to put more into family than I used to.

One must verify or expel his doubts, and convert them into the certainty of Yes or NO.

I’m aware that, whatever the circumstances, there will always be speculation about me.

Don’t feel sorry for me.

When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

I have trouble with letting go. That’s my problem.

Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past.

In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.

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

I never knew a more presumptuous person than myself. The fact that I say that shows that what I say is true.

I’m not perfect.

Fear? If I have gained anything by damning myself, it is that I no longer have anything to fear.

What is true belongs to me!

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.

Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.

The fact that you are willing to say, ‚I do not understand, and it is fine,‘ is the greatest understanding you could exhibit.

I don’t have any regrets. I made all my own decisions.

If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go.

It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.

I cry so much less than I used to. I used to be one of the most teary people.

Sometimes you must suffer through something to defeat your fear of it.

Some men never feel small, but these are the few men who are.

Honor thy error as a hidden intention.

Let’s embrace being not normal!

I know some people might think it odd – unworthy even – for me to have written a cookbook, but I make no apologies. The U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins thought I had demeaned myself by writing poetry for Hallmark Cards, but I am the people’s poet so I write for the people.

Everybody’s journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality.

Arthur Miller wouldn’t have married me if I had been nothing but a dumb blonde.

No man was ever great by imitation.

I woke up one day and thought: ‚I want to write a book about the history of my body.‘ I could justify talking about my mother because it was in her body that my body began.

Key is never be afraid of being yourself. Never!

That is my wish, hope, instruction for all of you: Take your education seriously, okay? Always do that. Because I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my education.

Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.

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.

When you are young you tend to do so many things that are not needed. When you get experience, you know what exactly what works for you and you tend to do things that you want.

Every human being is under construction from conception to death.

If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.

Reversing your treatment of the man you have wronged is better than asking his forgiveness.

Every band I’ve worked with also wants to be countercultural in the sense that they want to feel that they’ve gone somewhere that nobody else has been.

We boil at different degrees.

Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.

Everything’s intentional. It’s just filling in the dots.

I got the stern end of the stick. It was kind of that iron fist. I am who I am today because of my mother.

People who want the most approval get the least and people who need approval the least get the most.

Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called ‚Ego‘.

My lectures, based on Islamic teachings, were on various subjects. Some of the titles were, ‚The Intoxication of Life,‘ ‚The Purpose of Life,‘ ‚The Real Cause of Man’s Distress,‘ ‚The Journey to the Goal in Life,‘ and, one of my favorites, ‚The Heart of Man.‘ They contained important insights that spoke to something deep inside me.

The greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance.

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.

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

I had a lot of resistance, and not just to fame. I was always conscious of not changing.

When you’re just like everybody else, you’ve nothing to offer other than your conformity.

When I arrived, at first a lot of people were like, ‚This kid is different.‘

I fear that many a man’s good resolutions only need the ordinary fire of daily life to make them melt away. So, too, with fine professions and the boastings of perfection which abound in this age of shams.