One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!

I’m not this horrible, evil person.

To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation. But I’m working on the foundation.

It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.

A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.

Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.

A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us.

If you want to be a voice for peace in the world, begin by making peace a permanent condition of your own life.

The first decade of the twentieth century was not a great time to be born black and poor and female in St. Louis, Missouri, but Vivian Baxter was born black and poor, to black and poor parents. Later she would grow up and be called beautiful. As a grown woman she would be known as the butter-colored lady with the blowback hair.

Needing to have things perfect is the surest way to immobilize yourself with frustration.

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.

I want to do a certain thing in the world, and I am going to do it with unwavering concentration. I am concerning myself with only one essential thing: to set man free. I desire to free him from all cages, from all fears, and not to found religions, new sects, nor to establish new theories and new philosophies.

Every spoken word arouses our self-will.

Because, you know, resilience – if you think of it in terms of the Gold Rush, then you’d be pretty depressed right now because the last nugget of gold would be gone. But the good thing is, with innovation, there isn’t a last nugget. Every new thing creates two new questions and two new opportunities.

Man seems to be capable of great virtues but not of small virtues; capable of defying his torturer but not of keeping his temper.

There is always safety in valor.

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, ‚Oh, I forgot that bit,‘ then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you’ve figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is!

To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education.

Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.

Changing your mind is probably one of the most beautiful things people can do. And I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things over the years.

One thing Britons have always been celebrated for, and that is being able to stick it out in a tight place.

The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.

If we live a self-directed, self-motivated, self-centered life, always needing to get our own way, then we’re going to be miserable. In fact, many times we believe it’s our problems that are making us unhappy when, in reality, it’s because we’re focused on ourselves!

I always say, decisions I make, I live with them. There’s always ways you can correct them or ways you can do them better. At the end of the day, I live with them.

Anything I do, I want to do it well.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

I stopped doing drugs when I was 20. I was finished with drugs before Nirvana even started.

Man is not made for defeat.

Don’t be dependent. At all. Ever. Period.

You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lines. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I’ll rise.

To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short.

My whole thing is to inspire, to better people, to better myself forever in this thing that we call rap, this thing that we call hip hop.

The Bible tells us to be perfect. This is likely a scary thought for many people. It used to scare me. I didn’t think I could ever get there, no matter how hard I tried.

Most of my young years were spent under the boots of the military.

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

I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!

Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.

Let each become all that he was created capable of being.

If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened.

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.

Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.

It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.

Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.

We need enlightenment, not just individually but collectively, to save the planet. We need to awaken ourselves. We need to practice mindfulness if we want to have a future, if we want to save ourselves and the planet.

My biggest criticism is how can people be so easily satisfied? Even people with talent.

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.

I think of myself more as a sportsman than I do an artist.

Critics only make you stronger. You have to look at what they are saying as feedback. Sometimes the feedback helps, and other times, it’s just noise that can be a distraction.

If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.

No man is free who is not master of himself.

As pessimistic as I am about the nature of human beings and our capacity for atrocity and malevolence and betrayal and laziness and inertia, and all those things, I think we can transcend all that and set things straight.

There are many victories worse than a defeat.

Just because something didn’t work out your way, or somebody disappointed you, that does not change who you are.

Just try new things. Don’t be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar, all right?

You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.

The key is taking responsibility and initiative, deciding what your life is about and prioritizing your life around the most important things.

It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.

I don’t like looking back. I’m always constantly looking forward. I’m not the one to sort of sit and cry over spilt milk. I’m too busy looking for the next cow.

Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.