If I feel anxious every time someone is staring at me, well, I can’t control what they stare at, but my reaction is, I’m just not going to go outside the house. I’m going to stay in and chill. And when I do go out, I understand what comes along with that.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

I’m not sure what you need first – the players believing or others believing in them – but in the end, both have to think it.

I’m perpetually lonely.

It was completely fruitless to quarrel with the world, whereas the quarrel with oneself was occasionally fruitful and always, she had to admit, interesting.

I was very depressed when I was 19… I would go back to my apartment every day and I would just sit there. It was quiet and it was lonely. It was still. It was just my piano and myself. I had a television and I would leave it on all the time just to feel like somebody was hanging out with me.

What a liberation to realize that the ‚voice in my head‘ is not who I am. ‚Who am I, then?‘ The one who sees that.

I believe that everyone experiences depression to some degree at some time in their lives. And there are probably millions of people who live with a low level of sadness and heaviness day in and day out.

I know I do not exaggerate, unconsciously and unintentionally, the scantiness of my resources and the difficulty of my life… I know that, but for the mercy of God, I might easily have been, for any care that was taken of me, a little robber or a vagabond.

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

Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.

I’m going to stay active as long as I can politically, and with the Carter Center primarily, and if I’m able mentally and physically, will continue to be quite active.

The healthy man does not torture others – generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers.

You have to listen very carefully and tell the truth if you are going to get a paranoid person to open up to you.

Often, little situations trigger enormous reactions. Be there, present for it. Your partner will find it easier to see it in you, and you will find it easier to see it in them.

I’ve noticed a terrible thing, which is I will agree to anything if it’s far enough in the future.

I do suffer from depression, I suppose. Which isn’t that unusual. You know, a lot of people do.

It is better to be alone than in bad company.

I thank God I’m myself and for the life I’m given to live and for friends and lovers and beloveds, and I thank God for knowing that all those people have already paid for me.

If you know me, and you call me Stefani, you don’t really know me at all.

I’ve had some dark nights of the soul, of course, but giving in to depression would be a sellout, a defeat.

Dealing with backstabbers, there was one thing I learned. They’re only powerful when you got your back turned.

I used to meditate all the time in bed. That was when I was raising my daughter, and I’d get her up and off to school, and then I would go back to bed and meditate. And then I would do the same in the evening, and that was very good for that period because I had so many things to juggle as a single mother.

The true artist is not proud: he unfortunately sees that art has no limits; he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and though he may be admired by others, he is sad not to have reached that point to which his better genius only appears as a distant, guiding sun.

But for my faith in God, I should have been a raving maniac.

I think I have a dualistic nature.

I don’t carry the burden of the past or the madness of the future. I live in the present.

My body is weird. I wake up when the sun comes up, and it’s hard for me to go to sleep. My thoughts just take over.

Key is never be afraid of being yourself. Never!

In the Raphael Room, the secret turned out to be that only some of the paintings were made by the great master; the rest were made by students. I had liked the ones by Raphael. This was a big jab for my self-confidence in my ability to appreciate art.

I’ve always felt quite singular, even as a child. That I must stay on track to keep my purpose.

Games lubricate the body and the mind.

I definitely don’t plead guilty to being a heartthrob.

Growing up in the place I did I never was aware of any other option but to question everything.

The best author will be the one who is ashamed to become a writer.

Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature.

In my research, I’ve interviewed a lot of people who never fit in, who are what you might call ‚different‘: scientists, artists, thinkers. And if you drop down deep into their work and who they are, there is a tremendous amount of self-acceptance.

It is not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love.

When you begin to worry, go find something to do. Get busy being a blessing to someone; do something fruitful. Talking about your problem or sitting alone, thinking about it, does no good; it serves only to make you miserable. Above all else, remember that worrying is totally useless. Worrying will not solve your problem.

There is a luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel no one else has a right to blame us.

When we give ourselves the chance to let go of all our tension, the body’s natural capacity to heal itself can begin to work.

I have no problem if someone wants to hug me – if I know him!

Success is always dangerous, and we need to be alert and avoid becoming the victims of our own success. Will we influence the world for Christ, or will the world influence us?

When I write, I can shake off all my cares.

We cannot live being obsessed with what other people think about us. It’s impossible to live like that. Not even God managed to please the entire world.

I wonder how many decisions we make every day. I believe it’s probably hundreds. We decide whether or not to get out of bed, what we’ll eat, what we’ll do, what we’ll think about, what we’ll say… and on and on.

What it’s like to be me? You know, it’s good to be me. My life is good.

Imaginary evils soon become real one by indulging our reflections on them.

Now that I understand that I’m an addict, I definitely have compassion for my mother. I get it.

Much of your pain is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.

He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.

If you are against yourself, you will never reach your highest potential. And when you criticize yourself, you’re criticizing God.

As a kid, I’d go into the bathroom when I was having a tantrum. I’d be in the bathroom crying, studying myself in the mirror. I was preparing for future roles.

I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.

There’s a deceptive sin that can keep us from walking in love: pride. It’s deceptive because when you have pride, you’re usually too proud to admit it. I know this because I used to have teachings on pride and they didn’t sell well.

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

It is the peculiar quality of a fool to perceive the faults of others and to forget his own.

Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.

When I was 8 years old I became a mute and was a mute until I was 13, and I thought of my whole body as an ear, so I can go into a crowd and sit still and absorb all sound. That talent or ability has lasted and served me until today.

When I am talking to people who I feel don’t like me or are mean, I get really shy, and I kind of curl up personality wise.

I don’t need to be vindicated, and I don’t want attention.