Self-pity in its early stage is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable.

Peace in the world starts with peace in oneself. If everyone lives mindfully, everyone will be more healthy, feel more fulfilled in their daily lives and there will be more peace.

One must marry one’s feelings to one’s beliefs and ideas. That is probably the only way to achieve a measure of harmony in one’s life.

When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.

You’re not going to scare me into being somebody I don’t want to be.

Not what I have, but what I do is my kingdom.

Never marry someone in hope that they’ll change later.

One thing I hope I’ll never be is drunk with my own power. And anybody who says I am will never work in this town again.

We boil at different degrees.

In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either the key or the door to open, except yourself.

Every now and then I read a poem that does touch something in me, but I never turn to poetry for solace or pleasure in the way that I throw myself into prose.

Everything is an open book. I don’t speak on other people’s hardship, but if it happened in my life or something that has been an experience on my particular journey, I’m going to talk about it. That’s what my fan base appreciates the most. I’m universal. You can relate to the things I say or that I go through.

I want to rethink ‚surrender‘ as an active verb.

Do the thing we fear, and death of fear is certain.

There was a while when I was feeling like, ‚Damn, if I’d just been born black, I would not have to go through all this‘.

You say that you are my judge; I do not know if you are; but take good heed not to judge me ill, because you would put yourself in great peril.

Something I’ve realized lately, to my shock, is that I am an optimist, in that I think humans are almost infinitely capable of self-change and self-modification, and that we really can build the future that we want if we’re smart about it.

Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life.

We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay – and rise!

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

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

Everything in the universe has a purpose. Indeed, the invisible intelligence that flows through everything in a purposeful fashion is also flowing through you.

Reactive people… are often affected by their physical environment. They find external sources to blame for their behavior.

Sometimes you need faith and victory spoken over your life. Words have created power. When you receive them into your spirit, they can ignite seeds of increase on the inside.

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.

Key is never be afraid of being yourself. Never!

We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You’re always helping people.

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.

Single life is so overrated.

I think I’ve got wiser.

Meditation is difficult for many people because their thoughts are always on some distant object or place. One form of meditation is to label the thought as it appears and then choose to let it go.

Never say anything about yourself you do not want to come true.

Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? I know no speck so troublesome as self.

You’re not going to say anything about me that I’m not going to say about myself. There’s so many things that I think about myself; if someone really wanted to get at me, they could say this and this and this. So I’m going to say it before they can. It’s the best policy for me.

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

What starts the process, really, are laughs and slights and snubs when you are a kid. If your anger is deep enough and strong enough, you learn that you can change those attitudes by excellence, personal gut performance.

Basically you have to suppress your own ambitions in order to be who you need to be.

Who had deceived thee so often as thyself?

He knows my limitations and where I’m a good wife and a good mom.

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.

Many a man thinks he is patient when, in reality, he is indifferent.

Somewhere deep down there’s a decent man in me, he just can’t be found.

I have a personal ambition to live my life honestly and honor the true love that I’ve had and also the people I’ve had around me.

The good things of prosperity are to be wished; but the good things that belong to adversity are to be admired.

Whenever I climb I am followed by a dog called ‚Ego‘.

Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us… While what we call ‚our own life‘ remains agreeable, we will not surrender it to Him. What, then, can God do in our interests but make ‚our own life‘ less agreeable to us, and take away the plausible sources of false happiness?

The reason I became 297 pounds is because that was comfortable. What was very uncomfortable was running. What was very uncomfortable was being on a diet. What was very uncomfortable was trying to face things that I didn’t want to face. And I also realized, when I was really big, I had no growth. Why? Because I was living comfortable.

I’m not afraid to look like an idiot.

Boys do cry, but I don’t think I shed a tear for a good chunk of my teenage years.

It is best to love wisely, no doubt; but to love foolishly is better than not to be able to love at all.

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.

Billy Graham is one of my great lifetime heroes. I think he epitomizes the essence of what a Christian leader should be. I have participated in some of his crusades a couple of times in Atlanta. I’ve seen the profound impact he’s had on me personally, and on other people who were not Christians and accepted Christ as Savior.

My freshman and sophomore years in high school, I spent a lot of time trying to get back on the right track. I was arrested multiple times by the time I was 16, so I had a little harder time trying to adjust like a lot of us do in high school.

The dreams and passions stored within hearts are powerful keys which can unlock a wealth of potential.

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.

It’s still scary every time I go back to the past. Each morning, my heart catches. When I get there, I remember how the light was, where the draft was coming from, what odors were in the air. When I write, I get all the weeping out.

I put my flaws on front street. So the world accepted my flaws, so I don’t have any flaws.

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.

A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.

My public is growing up just as I am. After all, I’m not 19 anymore and if I stick with the sex bit, who will be paying to see me when I’m 50?

People may think I’m trying something new by telling stories, but they’re just jokes connected to give the illusion of stories. But really, I just continue using my imagination and creating. That’s what I do.