In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us.

I don’t know what drives me to succeed.

I liked his ability to deal with a lot of the negativity that surrounded him. Even though he was in a world that he didn’t want to be in, he still saw the bigger picture.

Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.

It’s stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.

It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.

I think writing really helps you heal yourself. I think if you write long enough, you will be a healthy person. That is, if you write what you need to write, as opposed to what will make money, or what will make fame.

I was bullied as a boy – lots of kids are, but hopefully most of us get on with our lives and grow up.

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.

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.

Solitude is independence.

You don’t have the same mentality as you did five years ago – even one year. People are always changing, and I believe that everyone deserves the space to change and for people to recognize their change.

What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward.

I would love to continue in music, with writing… but I am not the kind of person who will hang around if I start to become irrelevant. If that happens, I will bow down gracefully, raise my kids, and have a garden. And I am going to let my hair go gray when I am older. I don’t need to be blonde when I’m 60!

I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.

You can hold yourself back from the sufferings of the world, that is something you are free to do and it accords with your nature, but perhaps this very holding back is the one suffering you could avoid.

I think, for years, people have been pushed down by religion, and I don’t say that disrespectfully, but they’ve been shown a God that you can’t measure up to.

I break ground. I trailblaze.

My powers are ordinary. Only my application brings me success.

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

I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

Money does not change people, people change.

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

Only by contending with challenges that seem to be beyond your strength to handle at the moment you can grow more surely toward the stars.

The experience of pain or loss can be a formidably motivating force.

I never expected to be anybody important.

I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better. I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.

I’m not the most patient of people.

Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.

Remember: your bosses prefer to keep you in dependent positions. It is in their interest that you do not become self-reliant, and so they will tend to hoard information. You must secretly work against this and seize this information for yourself.

I’ve never responded well to entrenched negative thinking.

My whole life has been one big improvisation.

I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human.

Whatever talents I possess may suddenly diminish or suddenly increase. I can with ease become an ordinary fool. I may be one now. But it doesn’t do to upset one’s own vanity.

Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.

Life is a matter of really tough choices.

To forget one’s purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.

You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.

I hate to be smart.

No one gets away with anything, ever, so take responsibility for your own life.

Character isn’t something you were born with and can’t change, like your fingerprints. It’s something you weren’t born with and must take responsibility for forming.

Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity.

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.

Giving responsibility is the key to success with boys, especially with the rowdiest and most difficult boys.

Most of us aren’t defeated in one decisive battle. We are defeated one tiny, seemingly insignificant surrender at a time that chips away at who we should really be.

Prayer indeed is good, but while calling on the gods a man should himself lend a hand.

Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.

What’s really hard is that you could care a lot for someone and not want to live with him anymore.

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

I don’t dislike any of my exes. If I took time to form a relationship, it’s gonna hurt when we move on, but are you puttin‘ White-Out over all that beautiful time together? That was real time in your life. It’s connected to where you are today.

We continue to shape our personality all our life. If we knew ourselves perfectly, we should die.

He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.

People always tell you, ‚Be humble. Be humble.‘ When was the last time someone told you to be amazing? Be great! Be great! Be awesome! Be awesome!

I’ve never managed to keep a journal longer than two weeks.

More gold has been mined from the thoughts of men than has been taken from the earth.

I don’t have all the answers.

Somebody’s boring me. I think it’s me.

There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.