Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking them.

You know, it’s not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.

I just have always felt that people don’t change, circumstances change.

If we’re really honest with ourselves, most of us will admit that we want to impress people, and this is what’s causing us to do what we do.

There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.

The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you’ll make one.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty.

Prayer doesn’t just change things – it changes us. If we are diligent in seeking God, slowly and surely we become better people.

Satisfaction consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of life.

In so many ways, segregation shaped me, and education liberated me.

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.

As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

In a real dark night of the soul, it is always three o’clock in the morning, day after day.

My kids are coming up in a different time then me. Interracial couples are of the norm. With me, it’s about making sure my kids understand the importance of education and having opportunities that I didn’t. My goal as a parent is to make sure they don’t take what they have for granted.

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

I’m a whopping 5 foot 4 inches tall. I’m not going to get any taller.

Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.

I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.

My children came out as individuals in their own right. They were not my products. They had their own characters and were very strong-minded. I gave them a lot of freedom when they were still very young. The one thing they got from me is morals. They would never betray anyone. They are really good people.

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

I’m not that keen on the idea of being unconscious.

It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear.

I will praise any man that will praise me.

I’m confident in who I am. I’ve come to a place in my life where I’ve accepted things that are me, as opposed to feeling pressure to explain myself to people around me. That’s just the way I’ve always tried to be. It didn’t change when I became a star.

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

I’m sure the feeling of fear, as long as you can take advantage of it and not be rendered useless by it, can make you extend yourself beyond what you would regard as your capacity. If you’re afraid, the blood seems to flow freely through the veins, and you really do feel a sense of stimulation.

When you love and accept yourself, when you know who really cares about you, and when you learn from your mistakes, then you stop caring about what people who don’t know you think.

Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to us.

Some people can just let things go, but I can’t, especially if there’s something that worries me or makes me sad.

A book must be the ax for the frozen sea within us.

Don’t compare yourself with other people; compare yourself with who you were yesterday.

Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

Why am I a star? It can’t be because of looks.

Let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.

Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.

I’m not ashamed to say I fear something.

Man is an idea, and a precious small idea once he turns his back on love.

The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfil our destiny, but our fate is sealed.

None but ourselves can free our minds.

We love life, not because we are used to living but because we are used to loving.

My father wasn’t around when I was a kid, and I used to always say, ‚Why me? Why don’t I have a father? Why isn’t he around? Why did he leave my mother?‘ But as I got older I looked deeper and thought, ‚I don’t know what my father was going through, but if he was around all the time, would I be who I am today?‘

There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet.

People always say when they meet me that I’m not what they expect. I assume they think I’m this super dark and depressing guy, but I like to channel all of those emotions into my work.

It’s not morbid to talk about death. Most people don’t worry about death, they worry about a bad death.

Hatreds not vowed and concealed are to be feared more than those openly declared.

I can’t keep somebody from being a star, and I can’t make somebody a star, and nobody can.

The longer I live, the more I feel that true repose consists in ‚renouncing‘ one’s own self, by which I mean making up one’s mind to admit that there is no importance whatever in being ‚happy‘ or ‚unhappy‘ in the usual meaning of the words.

I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.

It is better for you to be free of fear lying upon a pallet, than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble.

You will be as much value to others as you have been to yourself.

Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful.

My work is about my life, and what I want to do with it.

A lot of people tell me a lot of things about my conduct, my game, my future… but I try to stay away from their words of wisdom. I don’t let it distract me. On the field, you will be facing the ball alone. If you fail, you will the only one to blame. So, you should be the one deciding for yourself.

I used to pray that God would make me a great athlete, and He never did.

One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better.

If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.

When I was young, I could not imagine being old. My mother said, and the doctor confirmed, that I had an unusual amount of energy; and it followed me into young adulthood.