If you dream the proper dreams, and share the myths with people, they will want to grow up to be like you.

Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Because of a great love, one is courageous.

Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same persons. Neither the offender nor the offended are any more themselves.

Every production of genius must be the production of enthusiasm.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

Kitty Wells was the first and only Queen of Country Music, no matter what they call the rest of us. She was a great inspiration to me as well as every other female singer in the country music business. In addition to being a wonderful asset to country music, she was a wonderful woman.

Successful people will always tell you you can do something. It’s the people who have never accomplished anything who will always discourage you from trying to achieve excellent things.

Positional leaders ignore the fact that every person has hopes, dreams, desires, and goals of his own. And leaders must bring their vision and the aspirations of the people they lead together in a way that benefits everyone.

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.

When we make progress quickly, it feeds our emotions. Then, when there’s a period of waiting or we hit a plateau, we find out how committed we really are and whether we’re going to see things through to the finish or quit.

Listening to and understanding our inner sufferings will resolve most of the problems we encounter.

‚Perfection‘ to me is, I walk away from a situation and say, ‚I did everything I could do right there. There was nothing more that I could do.‘ I was a hundred percent, like the meter was at the top. There was nothing else I could have done. You know? Like, I worked as hard as I possibly could have. That’s perfection.

I realized the other day that I’ve lived in New York longer than I’ve lived anywhere else. It’s amazing: I am a New Yorker. It’s strange; I never thought I would be.

If selfishness is the key to being miserable, then selflessness must be the key to being happy!

People want to feel hopeful.

The more I see the less I know for sure.

Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.

If I am judged for my work, many myths about me as an autocrat or otherwise would become clearer. I feel false propaganda will not last, and truth will ultimately prevail.

See, winners embrace hard work.

When people are around us, they should leave better off than they were previously. Rather than feeling discouraged or defeated, people should feel challenged and inspired after spending any time with you and me.

If a man does his best, what else is there?

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.

I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don’t always agree with them.

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

If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.

I believe that having a spiritual life is so important in everybody’s life.

I’ve had a few semi-toxic relationships, but it’s not what I look for when I’m seeing someone.

We are continually shaped by the forces of coincidence.

A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he’ll never crow. I have seen the light and I’m crowing.

Narrow your life down to this moment. Your life situation may be full of problems – most life situations are – but find out if you have a problem at this moment. Do you have a problem now?

I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.

Free people, remember this maxim: we may acquire liberty, but it is never recovered if it is once lost.

Even though I was very shy, I found I could get onstage if I had a new identity.

Really, the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment.

To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.

Oh, give us the man who sings at his work.

To take a few nouns, and a few pronouns, and adverbs and adjectives, and put them together, ball them up, and throw them against the wall to make them bounce. That’s what Norman Mailer did. That’s what James Baldwin did, and Joan Didion did, and that’s what I do – that’s what I mean to do.

I have fallen in love with the imagination. And if you fall in love with the imagination, you understand that it is a free spirit. It will go anywhere, and it can do anything.

For years I wanted to be older, and now I am.

The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.

It’s good to wander into the studio and walk out with something that’s better than you’d imagined it to be. If everything was as you imagined it to be, it just wouldn’t be as much fun.

We represent a hustler. I think we represent inspiration. I think we represent, you know, staying down. I think we represent building yourself up from the bootstraps.

You have to dream intentionally. Most people dream a dream when they are asleep. But to be a writer, you have to dream while you are awake, intentionally.

Life loves the liver of it.

We must rekindle the fire of idealism in our society.

I think that at the start of a game, you’re always playing to win, and then maybe if you’re ahead late in the game, you start playing not to lose. The true competitors, though, are the ones who always play to win.

I haven’t changed at all. I’m the same as when I was 11.

It started to weigh on me that I was responsible for the moves that had made me successful, but I wasn’t reaping the lion’s share of the profits, and that was problematic for me.

Life is too short for long-term grudges.

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.

Life begins on the other side of despair.

The time is always right to do what is right.

Bottom line is, I didn’t return to Apple to make a fortune. I’ve been very lucky in my life and already have one. When I was 25, my net worth was $100 million or so. I decided then that I wasn’t going to let it ruin my life. There’s no way you could ever spend it all, and I don’t view wealth as something that validates my intelligence.

I think there is a lot made out of age, and what age you feel.

In art the best is good enough.

I have retired, but if there’s anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.

The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!