If it weren’t for painting, I wouldn’t live; I couldn’t bear the extra strain of things.

We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.

The greatest remedy for anger is delay.

Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

I used to let other people’s struggles affect my happiness. If they weren’t happy, there was no way I was going to be happy. The opposite was also true: If I wasn’t happy, I didn’t want anyone around me to be happy.

Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable.

When you get angry, your options narrow.

If I panic, everyone else panics.

I think I hate cynicism more than anything else. It’s the curse of our age, and I want to avoid it at all costs.

I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting.

As a human being, anger is a part of our mind. Irritation also part of our mind. But you can do – anger come, go. Never keep in your sort of – your inner world, then create a lot of suspicion, a lot of distrust, a lot of negative things, more worry.

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

Creativity has got to start with humanity and when you’re a human being, you feel, you suffer. You’re gay, you’re sick, you’re nervous or whatever.

Depression begins with disappointment. When disappointment festers in our soul, it leads to discouragement.

You can be obsessed with the bad things people say and the good things; either way, you’re obsessed with yourself, and I’m not – you can become unhinged so easily.

Our brains are either our greatest assets or our greatest liabilities.

The mind of America is seized by a fatal dry rot – and it’s only a question of time before all that the mind controls will run amuck in a frenzy of stupid, impotent fear.

A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.

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

When the negative thoughts come – and they will; they come to all of us – it’s not enough to just not dwell on it… You’ve got to replace it with a positive thought.

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.

Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night.

When I have a terrible need of – shall I say the word – religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.

Protect your enthusiasm from the negativity of others.

I found that with depression, one of the most important things you could realise is that you’re not alone.

Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.

One ought to hold on to one’s heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.

I guess there is nothing that will get your mind off everything like golf. I have never been depressed enough to take up the game, but they say you get so sore at yourself you forget to hate your enemies.

When you are angry or frustrated, what comes out? Whatever it is, it’s a good indication of what you’re made of.

I hid myself in food.

Most men are within a finger’s breadth of being mad.

My mother was a professional sick person; she took a lot of pain pills. There are many people like that. It’s just how they are used to getting attention. I always remember she’s the daughter of alcoholics who’d leave her alone at Christmas time.

In a disordered mind, as in a disordered body, soundness of health is impossible.

In the grip of a neurological disorder, I am fast losing control of words even as my relationship with the world has been reduced to them.

I think a certain amount of stress in life is good. The stress of just working, which takes effort – I think it keeps you going.

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.

I hold a lot of things in. I’m always making sure everybody is okay. I usually don’t rage; I usually don’t curse. So for me, it’s a great thing to be able to scream and say whatever I want.

The sovereign cure for worry is prayer.

I am in my own head most of the time.

Every day we have plenty of opportunities to get angry, stressed or offended. But what you’re doing when you indulge these negative emotions is giving something outside yourself power over your happiness. You can choose to not let little things upset you.

There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy.

We should feel sorrow, but not sink under its oppression.

If I couldn’t laugh I just would go insane, If we couldn’t laugh we just would go insane, If we weren’t all crazy we would go insane.

Always remember that others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.

As we dread any disease that undermines the health of the body, so should we deplore contention, which is a corroding canker of the spirit.

I was awfully curious to find out why I didn’t go insane.

All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.

Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts.

There’s certainly a side of me that isn’t completely… sane. Or completely ‚even‘ all the time. We all have our dark sides.

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.

I must confess that I lead a miserable life. For almost two years, I have ceased to attend any social functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people, ‚I am deaf.‘ If I had any other profession, I might be able to cope with my infirmity; but in my profession, it is a terrible handicap.

Any artist, the work you do, if it’s a painting or if it’s a performance, you hope it translates to a common denominator with the people that they see something in their own life in there. Or they see something in somebody else’s life. That’s what’s fun about sharing art.

When I get down, I don’t waller around for long.

I know from personal experience how damaging it can be to live with bitterness and unforgiveness. I like to say it’s like taking poison and hoping your enemy will die. And it really is that harmful to us to live this way.

People have different emotional levels. Especially when you’re young.

I have the habit of attention to such excess, that my senses get no rest – but suffer from a constant strain.

Obviously, the cinematography of films is art, just as a still shot can be art. If I’m watching a Wes Anderson movie, the colour palettes alone, and the way they’re painted, could be art. With music, you’re a little bit limited, of course, because it’s only audio.

I’ll say things that are serious and put them in a joke form so people can enjoy them. We laugh to keep from crying.

Happiness is the cessation of suffering.

I don’t need therapy. I’m not going to see a therapist; comedy acts as my therapy. I put my problems out there. I talk about them. I talk about everything before anybody has a chance.

Many of my fans often tell me that they listen to my songs to get through things. And therefore, obviously, I hope that they can picture being in a place where things are better… I hope my songs can bring people to a calm place.