I’m just like you – I want to be a good human being. I’m doing my best, and I’m working at it. And I’m trying to be a Christian. I’m always amazed when people walk up to me and say, ‚I’m a Christian.‘ I always think, ‚Already? You’ve already got it?‘ I’m working at it. And at my age, I’ll still be working at it at 96.

We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.

You have to be smart. The easy days are over.

I believe that God’s dream is that we be successful in our careers, and that we be able to send our kids to college. I don’t mean that everyone is going to be rich, and I preach a lot on blooming where you’re planted. But I don’t have the mindset that money is a bad thing.

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.

I didn’t consider myself a fashion designer at all at the time of punk. I was just using fashion as a way to express my resistance and to be rebellious. I came from the country, and by the time I got to London, I considered myself to be very stupid. It was my ambition to understand the world I live in.

The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present.

We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – but never blame yourself. It’s never your fault. But it’s always your fault, because if you wanted to change you’re the one who has got to change.

All ways of living can be sanctified, and for each individual, the ideal way is that to which our Lord leads him through the natural development of his tastes and the pressure of circumstances.

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.

No one has ever drowned in sweat.

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.

Critics only make you stronger. You have to look at what they are saying as feedback. Sometimes the feedback helps, and other times, it’s just noise that can be a distraction.

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty.

It were a real increase of human happiness, could all young men from the age of nineteen be covered under barrels, or rendered otherwise invisible; and there left to follow their lawful studies and callings, till they emerged, sadder and wiser, at the age of twenty-five.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

If I feel good about my parenting, I have no interest in judging other people’s choices. If I feel good about my body, I don’t go around making fun of other people’s weight or appearance. We’re hard on each other because we’re using each other as a launching pad out of our own perceived deficiency.

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

I deeply regret any harm, or any perceived harm, that I may have done to anyone by any behaviour of mine.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.

As a kid from Compton, you can get all the success in the world and still question your worth.

Man can alter his life by altering his thinking.

We are not what we are, nor do we treat or esteem each other for such, but for what we are capable of being.

One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.

The man who has done his level best… is a success, even though the world may write him down a failure.

Resist the need to be ‚right‘ all the time or to always have the last word.

No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.

I may be no better, but at least I am different.

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we, as a people, can be engaged in.

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

The best way out of a difficulty is through it.

Every movie I make teaches me something. That’s why I keep making them.

Thoughts are fine when you don’t confuse them with who you are, and then thoughts are not a problem. Thinking is a wonderful tool to create things in this world. It only becomes problematic and a source of suffering when you confuse thinking with who you are.

I think I mainly climb mountains because I get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. I never attempt to analyze these things too thoroughly, but I think that all mountaineers do get a great deal of satisfaction out of overcoming some challenge which they think is very difficult for them, or which perhaps may be a little dangerous.

I don’t make people bend over backwards, and I don’t like that in people. I am definitely no diva.

Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will – his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.

Early on in my life, I had a broken soul. I was abused by my father, abandoned by my mother and ended up in a destructive first marriage. By the time I was 23, I was broken in my soul. I didn’t know how to think right. I felt wrong about everything. But God stepped into my life, and I came out on the other side and didn’t even smell like smoke.

Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. I feel stronger for confession.

You aren’t going to find anybody that’s going to be successful without making a sacrifice and without perseverance.

The way I approach this thing, when I started to get my head screwed on straight and really trying to make something of myself as an artist, when I was 19 or 20, it became more about function for me. Like, what is this song doing to you? What is the function of this type of artform? What is it doing?

I always thought it was wrong for me to take credit for the work that I did. I don’t think that anymore.

True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

Sometimes when you make a film you can go away for three months and then come back and live your life. But this struck a much deeper chord. I don’t have the ability yet to speak about it in an objective.

There’s a great deal to say in the Bible about the signs we’re to watch for, and when these signs all converge at one place we can be sure that we’re close to the end of the age.

Control your own destiny! Control your own destiny!

You can’t have it all all at once. Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all, but in given periods in time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it.

One thing I hope I’ll never be is drunk with my own power. And anybody who says I am will never work in this town again.

People can cry much easier than they can change.

I do not see myself as a celebrity or an icon or things like that… I have not really done anything.

Reproach is shame, blame, disgrace, disapproval and a disrespectful attitude toward yourself. When you’re under reproach, your behavior shows it.

True praise comes often even to the lowly; false praise only to the strong.

If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him.

Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.

No sooner said than done – so acts your man of worth.

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

I always kind of see how I want things to be better, and I’m generally not happy with how things are or the level of service that we’re providing for people or the quality of the teams that we built. But if you look at this objectively, we’re doing so well on so many of these things. I think it’s important to have gratitude for that.