I’m always cast in these strange men… that’s not me, really.

Whoever despises himself nonetheless respects himself as one who despises.

I had given up some youth for knowledge, but my gain was more valuable than the loss.

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.

The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk.

When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.

Breathe in deeply to bring your mind home to your body. Then look at, or think of, the person triggering this emotion: With mindfulness, you can see that she is unhappy, that she is suffering. You can see her wrong perceptions. You can see that she is not beautiful when she says things that are unkind.

It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.

I’m not really concerned with portraying this tough warrior – I mean, that’s part of my job and I take that very seriously. But I don’t have anything to hide, and I’m not concerned with what people think.

The people of Northern Ireland have sorted out my whole life.

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

Everyone, no doubt, remains first and foremost a man of his own country and continues to draw from it his motive force.

If we were not all so interested in ourselves, life would be so uninteresting that none of us would be able to endure it.

I think I’m pretty smart. I think I’m pretty clever. But there’s a lot that you hone in on when you finish your education.

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

My affection for Taiwan… is witnessed by everyone. My wife is Taiwanese and I am a son-in-law of Taiwan. I am half Taiwanese.

Because I’m small, I’ve been called things from ‚Happy Feet‘ to ‚Little Face.‘

As long as you blame someone or something else – something outside you that’s bigger than you are – as the source of your problems, the problems won’t get solved.

There’s no point in saying anything but the truth.

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.

Don’t throw stones at your neighbors if your own windows are glass.

We are wiser than we know.

When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old with grace is a choice. Growing older with grace is possible for all who will set their hearts and minds on the Giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Getting old is a fascination thing. The older you get, the older you want to get.

To meditate means to go home to yourself. Then you know how to take care of the things that are happening inside you, and you know how to take care of the things that happen around you.

The person you consider ignorant and insignificant is the one who came from God, that he might learn bliss from grief and knowledge from gloom.

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

What is true belongs to me!

I never think of myself as an icon. What is in other people’s minds is not in my mind. I just do my thing.

No one can give you better advice than yourself.

Fame is ultimately about the cycles of desire and how to do away with them or manage them well.

There are a lot of people who don’t know me and what I am all about.

When you learn about the teaching and the practice of another tradition, you always have a chance to understand your own teaching and practice.

Basically you have to suppress your own ambitions in order to be who you need to be.

As long as my music is real, it’s no limit to how many ears I can grab.

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

Either you’re the one erasing or you’re the one being erased.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.

I love that I can talk to my fans through Twitter, to cut out the middle man. Because I’ve done interviews where my words have gotten twisted, so it’s nice to be able to have things coming straight from me.

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

For me, it’s about the way I carry myself and the way I treat other people. My relationship and how I feel about God and what He does for me, is something deeply personal. It’s where I came from, my family, I was brought up in a religious household and that’s very important to me.

You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.

Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.

It’s a philosophy of life. A practice. If you do this, something will change, what will change is that you will change, your life will change, and if you can change you, you can perhaps change the world.

I’m so nervous. I’ve always been nervous, ever since I was a kid.

I think I’m like most people – we fear the unknown and the things that have yet to come to pass, which are the very things that don’t deserve to be feared. When you give God complete control, it’s very hard not to be fearless.

I’ve definitely seen bands before they made money kind of change their thing on the next tour, and I prefer it when it’s a little more raw.

People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.

I’m not trying to be fashionable. Never was!

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.

Friends accept you the way you are.

I always try to be myself. Ever since I was an introverted kid, I’d get on stage and be able to break out of my shell.

I like to be myself, and I don’t pretend. For instance, I don’t dress up for occasions; I am what I am.

I’ll never tell a lie. I’ll never make a misleading statement. I’ll never betray the confidence that any of you had in me. And I’ll never avoid a controversial issue.

Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

I don’t mind telling a dark side.

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.

When I write about a 15-year old, I jump, I return to the days when I was that age. It’s like a time machine. I can remember everything. I can feel the wind. I can smell the air. Very actually. Very vividly.