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.

Either you think, or else others have to think for you and take power from you, pervert and discipline your natural tastes, civilize and sterilize you.

Everything I read about hitting a midlife crisis was true. I had such a struggle letting go of youthful things and learning how to exist and have enthusiasm while settling into the comfort of an older age.

We must have government that builds stamina into communities and men. That makes men instead of mendicants.

And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see – or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read.

I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them. I was surrounded by extraordinary women in my life who taught me about quiet strength and dignity.

My fat never made me less money.

I have discovered that just because we grow weaker physically as we age, it doesn’t mean that we must grow weaker spiritually.

Black Americans, no more than white Americans, they do not want more government programs which perpetuate dependency. They don’t want to be a colony in a nation.

It’s not an easy course. It’s not designed to be. We’re not here to get you in touch with your inner child.

I’m the type person, my safe place to be emotional is the booth.

To teach how to live without certainty and yet without being paralysed by hesitation is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can do for those who study it.

Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for a time, leave us the weaker ever after.

The first step in a person’s salvation is knowledge of their sin.

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.

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.

I don’t write so much now. I’m getting on 33, pot belly and creeping dementia.

Look within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if thou wilt ever dig.

I always wanted a family.

In fact, my courage and my bravery at a young age was the thing I was bullied for, a kind of ‚Who do you think you are?‘

Nearly all the things I do that are of any merit at all start off just being good fun, and I think I’m sort of building up to doing something else quite soon.

We work to become, not to acquire.

It is better to do one’s own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins.

Within all of us is a divine capacity to manifest and attract all that we need and desire.

None but ourselves can free our minds.

In retrospect, I can see I couldn’t talk to people face to face, so I got on stage and started screaming and squealing and twitching about. Ha! Like, that sure made sense!

I don’t think there’s anyone who would say they don’t want or need more of God’s power in their life.

Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

I feel like people can relate to me because we all go through wins and roadblocks and passion and pain, and it’s a vibe.

I am who I am. That’s why my friends and peers respect and appreciate me. I don’t change or cater my actions to fit my surroundings. I’m myself 24/7. People appreciate that.

I don’t know if I particularly want to be remembered for anything. I personally do not think I’m a great gift to the world. I’ve been very fortunate.

I am just one human being.

We all self-conscious. I’m just the first to admit it.

My mother was very strong. Once, she picked up a coconut and smashed it against my father’s head. It taught me about women defending themselves and not collapsing in a heap.

We must, all of us, learn actually not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries who are ourselves in disguise.

We begin to see, therefore, the importance of selecting our environment with the greatest of care, because environment is the mental feeding ground out of which the food that goes into our minds is extracted.

I am, as a character, at times, a little overbearing. I recognize that.

You can bear your own faults, and why not a fault in your wife?

Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.

I don’t do things for the response or for the controversy. I just live my life.

When you face a ‚performance‘ that might provoke the ‚I’m scared‘ response, choose love and approach your opportunity as a chance to dance with God. It’s more fun than ‚Dancing with the Stars!‘

The strongest influences in my life and my work are always whomever I love. Whomever I love and am with most of the time, or whomever I remember most vividly. I think that’s true of everyone, don’t you?

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.

But I’ll tell you what hermits realize. If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you’ll come to understand that you’re connected with everything.

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

Responsibility is the price of freedom.

They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.

Things won’t get better dwelling on the past. Accept what has happened. Then move forward.

Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.

I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.

When I was a child, I was very poor and wanted everything. So when I got money, I began buying things.

Now I realize that from ’72 through to about ’76, I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn’t have been more rock star.

If you live only in one culture for the first 20 years of your life, you become conditioned without knowing it.

Difficulties are things that show a person what they are.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.

A child wants things to be a certain way. When you get to be an adult, you just understand that some people are good, some are not, and you can’t be naive.

Our lifelong certainties about the world can be demolished in a single second.

Character is determined more by the lack of certain experiences than by those one has had.