One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.

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

We all have two lives: an inner life and an outer life. Your inner life is your soul life, which includes your mind, will and emotions. Your outer life is your physical life. And while God cares about every detail of your life, He is more concerned with your inner life than your outer life.

In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.

Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul.

Whatever is making you so angry, it’s time for you to give it to God and get over it.

Control and surrender have to be kept in balance. That’s what surfers do – take control of the situation, then be carried, then take control. In the last few thousand years, we’ve become incredibly adept technically. We’ve treasured the controlling part of ourselves and neglected the surrendering part.

For a young person, it is almost a sin, or at least a danger, to be too preoccupied with himself; but for the ageing person, it is a duty and a necessity to devote serious attention to himself.

The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.

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.

I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be the inferior sex.

I’m so happy I discovered early how wonderful music makes me feel.

Maybe other people will try to limit me but I don’t limit myself.

It is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of my early life.

A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others.

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you – gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.

When I was writing ‚Kitchen Confidential,‘ I was in my 40s, I had never paid rent on time, I was 10 years behind on my taxes, I had never owned my own furniture or a car.

You should never give up your inner self.

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others.

The great epochs of our life are the occasions when we gain the courage to rebaptize our evil qualities as our best qualities.

I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.

No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.

The same thing I did in 2013 is what I’m trying to do in 2014, which is continue to improve, continue to shock people. You know, I have several projects coming up between 2014 and 2015, and hopefully by 2015, I’ll have another hour of stand-up material where I’ll be able to go on the road and tour again.

I think I have a dualistic nature.

When something an affliction happens to you, you either let it defeat you, or you defeat it.

I’m concerned that my technical skills have advanced to the point where I can get closer to what I’m aiming for, which is not such a good thing.

Man is a universe within himself.

I let the American people down.

Have the humility to learn from those around you.

My future is righteousness.

I’m crazy and I don’t pretend to be anything else.

Lots of songs aren’t even from my experiences, but they’re about accepting… the dark things about yourself.

To me, a leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes. And so what I think is really important is sustainability.

I’m very secure about my talents and about who I am.

If anything is good for pounding humility into you permanently, it’s the restaurant business.

Guarding your heart and protecting your dignity are a little bit more important than clarifying the emotions of someone who’s only texting you back three words. I’ve learned that from trying to figure out people who don’t deserve to be figured out.

A vote is like a rifle; its usefulness depends upon the character of the user.

Everyone is different. Everyone has different teams they’ve played on, coaches they’ve played for.

I think the healthy way to live is to make friends with the beast inside oneself, and that means not the beast but the shadow. The dark side of one’s nature. Have fun with it and you know, is to accept everything about ourselves.

Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries.

A man makes you feel important – makes you glad you are a woman.

Even the securest financial plan and the finest health coverage aren’t enough to hold us steady when the challenges come… We need something more, something deeper and unshakeable, something that will see us through life’s hard times.

I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

So then, the relationship of self to other is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as other than yourself.

I never want to change so much that people can’t recognize me.

I’m not this horrible, evil person.

I still consider it a summer job, though. So, I try to maintain that summer job as long as I can. But it’s exciting to be able to have the opportunity to do things I always dreamed of as a kid.

I vividly remember a conversation I had many years ago in 1974, which marked a turning point in my leadership journey. I was sitting at a Holiday Inn with my friend, Kurt Campmeyer, when he asked me if I had a personal growth plan. I didn’t. In fact, I didn’t even know you were supposed to have one.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.

Whenever you’re going through a tough time, generally, you become more compassionate, you become softer, you become more thoughtful, kinder. These are all spiritual qualities that will help you to align yourself with God and God consciousness rather than with a split fear-based consciousness.

It’s very important for Christians to be honest with God, which often, you know, God is much more interested in who you are than who you want to be.

Remember, you can always stoop and pick up nothing.

I was in my late thirties when my eyes were opened to truth in God’s Word that showed me I wasn’t living the abundant life Jesus died for me to have. I had a very negative mindset and was miserable most of the time because of the abuse I had experienced throughout my childhood.

I believe that if you show people the problems and you show them the solutions they will be moved to act.

There’s something about being in front of a live audience that’s fun. It’s a really interesting, very electric, very alive, and intense experience, and you can’t get it anywhere else. And I’ve been doing it since I was 23, so it’s part of my being – it’s part of my fabric as a person.

The older I get, the more important the eternal becomes to me personally.

I am so tired of fear. And I don’t want my girls to live in a country, in a world, based on fear.

Relish everything that’s inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.