People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.

I’m honest enough to say I don’t know everything. You know, I don’t. I don’t understand all of God. I don’t understand, you know, some kind of why bad things happen.

To love one that is great, is almost to be great one’s self.

Beware of no man more than of yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us.

We will always tend to fulfill our own expectation of ourselves.

I tell everybody, I get so much because I give so much. I give freely, I give all my time, give all my money, give all of my soul. I try to motivate people. I try to inspire them.

I was always taught not to answer no questions. I’m not really good at answering them because I get agitated so fast.

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.

I always try to be smart. I try to treat all the money I’m making like it’s the last time I’m going to make it.

I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.

I try to teach my heart not to want things it can’t have.

The best is the enemy of the good.

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

Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.

Before you start a goal – let’s take care of our insecurities because they are going to surface when you put yourself in the crucible and you’re suffering.

Meditation is not following any system; it is not constant repetition and imitation. Meditation is not concentration.

If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.

Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again.

It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.

And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.

Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts.

What I can say is that all my characters are searching for their souls, because they are my mirrors. I’m someone who is constantly trying to understand my place in the world, and literature is the best way that I found in order to see myself.

A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything.

It was my delusion and naivety that brought me here.

The question is not, ‚Do you have a problem?‘ The question is, ‚Does the problem have you?‘

You simply have to accept that your demons are a part of you.

The reward of a thing well done is having done it.

You know how advice is. You only want it if it agrees with what you wanted to do anyway.

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

I am a good listener. I think that came from my schooling.

I break ground. I trailblaze.

I remember, when I was a young guy in the SEAL teams, I was very afraid of making mistakes and looking stupid or doing dumb things and getting a bad reputation.

Difficulties should act as a tonic. They should spur us to greater exertion.

Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.

There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.

People like to build their own story about my life. I don’t know if it makes them feel better, or if it makes it okay for them to not like me, but the last thing I grew up as was rich.

If anything is certain, it is that I myself am not a Marxist.

The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success only comes later.

You can be obsessed with the bad things people say and the good things; either way, you’re obsessed with yourself, and I’m not – you can become unhinged so easily.

I’ve read a lot of books on the laws of attraction, and in my home, I have a big book on Muhammad Ali, which I’ve read because he is, like, a hero of mine, but other than that, no, I’m not a big reader.

It generally happens that assurance keeps an even pace with ability.

Be happy with being you. Love your flaws. Own your quirks. And know that you are just as perfect as anyone else, exactly as you are.

As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.

I am not a self-help writer. I am a self-problem writer. When people read my books, I provoke some things. I cannot justify my work. I do my work; it is up to them to classify it, to judge.

Let us ask ourselves, ‚What kind of people do we think we are?‘ And let us answer, ‚Free people, worthy of freedom and determined not only to remain so but to help others gain their freedom as well.‘

Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.

I do not live on false promises. I cannot afford to live on bad advice.

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

If I can be a leader, I will.

I always kind of see how I want things to be better, and I’m generally not happy with how things are or the level of service that we’re providing for people or the quality of the teams that we built. But if you look at this objectively, we’re doing so well on so many of these things. I think it’s important to have gratitude for that.

It is his restraint that is honorable to a person, not their liberty.

I don’t do research. I never have.

I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.

Today I love myself as I love my god: who could charge me with a sin today? I know only sins against my god; but who knows my god?

No, I’m not a French designer either. I’m from nowhere. I’m a European, old European is all I am.

I don’t have much positive to say about motor neurone disease. But it taught me not to pity myself because others were worse off, and to get on with what I could still do.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look – for dizzier heights.

Thoughts are fine when you don’t confuse them with who you are, and then thoughts are not a problem. Thinking is a wonderful tool to create things in this world. It only becomes problematic and a source of suffering when you confuse thinking with who you are.

My problem was my inability to spend much time at home. I thought my family was secure, so I went running around everyplace else. I guess I had more of an effect on other people’s kids than I did my own.

I’ve learned a lot since I was a new mother. My approach to struggle and shame now is to talk to yourself like you’d talk to someone you love and reach out to tell your story.