My ‚fear‘ is my substance, and probably the best part of me.

If I wasn’t Bob Dylan, I’d probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself.

As a vulnerability researcher, the greatest barrier I see is our low tolerance for vulnerability. We’re almost afraid to be happy. We feel like it’s inviting disaster.

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

Everything that enlarges the sphere of human powers, that shows man he can do what he thought he could not do, is valuable.

If some years were added to my life, I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults.

With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.

I never do anything that I don’t want to do.

Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?

To this day, some of my closest friends say, ‚Gaga, you know, everything’s great. You’re a singer; your dreams have come true.‘ But, still, when certain things are said to you over and over again as you’re growing up, it stays with you and you wonder if they’re true.

Having a child, that’s always been my biggest fear. I want a child and I fear a child.

No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.

When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate.

We have a tendency to condemn people who are different from us, to define their sins as paramount and our own sinfulness as being insignificant.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

I never hold a grudge.

We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world.

I think my vice would be outdoing myself.

Few of us have vitality enough to make any of our instincts imperious.

As far as men go, it is not what they are that interests me, but what they can become.

Fear seems to have many causes. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of being hurt, and so on, but ultimately all fear is the ego’s fear of death, of annihilation. To the ego, death is always just around the corner. In this mind-identified state, fear of death affects every aspect of your life.

Cowards die many times before their actual deaths.

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

I even found it difficult to watch myself playing on TV because I couldn’t identify with the person on the screen. I couldn’t get to grips with it. It was as if it was all happening to someone else.

Even if you’re happy with the life you’ve chosen, you’re still curious about the other options.

I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.

While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.

Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.

You can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with something that is only a mind projection – you cannot cope with the future.

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?‘

In this world there is always danger for those who are afraid of it.

I have never felt that the one thing that I am ‚known for‘ is what I am.

The true artist is not proud: he unfortunately sees that art has no limits; he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and though he may be admired by others, he is sad not to have reached that point to which his better genius only appears as a distant, guiding sun.

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.

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

I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.

Well, I don’t think there’s any need for people to focus on my career.

The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds.

They would not find me changed from him they knew – only more sure of all I thought was true.

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

Unless I am both capable of and willing to reopen the wound every time I write a song, if I choose to not look inside myself to write music, I’m really not worth being called an artist at all.

The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately… you usually don’t use it at all. It uses you.

I’m always attracted to people who interest me. They’ve got to be people who are really true to themselves somehow, and who are always trying to do something that makes their life more interesting, or better, or something for somebody else. They’re interested in people.

One may have a blazing hearth in one’s soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.

The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master.

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.

I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room.

I just feel so much more comfortable and confident every game I play.

For a long time, I had the idea that I would do a certain amount of work the best I could, and then I would reach a comfort zone, and I wouldn’t be pushed to write more. I would become a different person. It’s a surprise to me that this hasn’t happened. Your body ages, but your mind is the same.

I think it is the height of ignorance to believe that the sexual act is an independent function necessary like sleeping or eating. Seeing, therefore, that I did not desire more children, I began to strive after self-control. There was endless difficulty in the task.

The beginning of compunction is the beginning of a new life.

Vanity can create a very cruel space for you if you don’t know how to manage it.

I will not be concerned at other men’s not knowing me; I will be concerned at my own want of ability.

In 7th grade, I believe, I wrote my first rap song. It was about everything I was seeing, everything that was going on around me.

I have no delusions about my likability in every scenario. I know that in order to get things done the way you want them, oftentimes your position will be unpopular.

I don’t want to just revolve. I want to evolve. As a man, as a human, as a father, as a lover.

If you’re embarrassed because you have some notion about how men are supposed to behave, and it doesn’t include weeping, then you have some personal work to do.