Sometimes I’ve called writing a disease. If so, I’m glad that it caught me.

It’s nice, I think, when people use your music for things you didn’t think of.

If you desire to be good, begin by believing that you are wicked.

If you’re nice to me I’ll never write anything bad about you.

Why am I a star? It can’t be because of looks.

Understand this law and you will then know, beyond room for the slightest doubt, that you are constantly punishing yourself for every wrong you commit and rewarding yourself for every act of constructive conduct in which you indulge.

Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

I write from my soul. This is the reason that critics don’t hurt me, because it is me. If it was not me, if I was pretending to be someone else, then this could unbalance my world, but I know who I am.

To do a dull thing with style-now that’s what I call art.

As the poet said, ‚Only God can make a tree,‘ probably because it’s so hard to figure out how to get the bark on.

I have owed you this letter for a very long time-but my fingers have avoided the pencil as though it were an old and poisoned tool.

There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that’s important.

I don’t believe in ‚thinking‘ old. Although I’ve transitioned through many bodies – a baby, toddler, child, teen, young adult, mid-life and older adult – my spirit is unchanged. I support my body with exercise, my mind with reading and writing, and my spirit with the knowing that I am part of the Divine source of all life.

You ask me if I keep a notebook to record my great ideas. I’ve only ever had one.

When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It’s very simple.

I hardly ever go into the studio with a work complete in my head. It emerges from communal activity.

Marriage is a series of desperate arguments people feel passionately about.

In the beginning, I was very insecure. I hated how I looked in pictures.

Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past.

A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.

Originality is a thing we constantly clamour for, and constantly quarrel with.

The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none.

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

Individuals need to be willing to face truth about their attitudes, behaviors, even what we want out of life.

I’m wallowing in the whole idea of just being a guy out there with a band, with songs. It’s a real enjoyment.

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

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

You don’t have to give way to careless speech or complaining. You don’t have to let your feelings get in the way of what God wants to do in your life.

We all sort of do want incentives for creative people to still exist at a certain level. You know, maybe rock stars shouldn’t make as much; who knows? But you want as much creativity to take place in the future as took place in the past.

A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.

The world can criticize me, but l can always criticize it back.

‚Trilogy‘ was more of a claustrophobic body of work. Before it was released, I hadn’t left my city for 21 years, and I had never been on a plane, not once. I spent my entire life on one setting; that’s probably why pieces of the album feel like one long track, because that’s what my life felt like. It felt like one long song.

Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice… No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out.

I think I’m like most people – we fear the unknown and the things that have yet to come to pass, which are the very things that don’t deserve to be feared. When you give God complete control, it’s very hard not to be fearless.

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 letter does not blush.

Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order.

If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.

Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

I love wisdom. And you can never be great at anything unless you love it. Not be in love with it, but love the thing, admire the thing. And it seems that if you love the thing, and you don’t just want to possess it, it will find you.

You’re just left with yourself all the time, whatever you do anyway. You’ve got to get down to your own God in your own temple. It’s all down to you, mate.

I really wish I knew what I was doing because I’d be writing hit songs every minute.

What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.

Remember, always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.

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.

I like the app where you can make your own memes. I make memes all the time and send them to my friends.

Becoming an inspiration for kids is great. I want to inspire them to do whatever they want to.

My production and songwriting and the environment around those vocals are not inspired by R&B at all.

I don’t have emotional needs, only physical ones.

I design things to help people to hopefully express their personality.

I put Catholic guilt to work pretty good for a rich rock star.

You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems and suffer and understand, for all that is life.

When I left the University of Notre Dame, I honestly felt I would never coach again.

I have a fundamental belief in the Bible as the Word of God, written by those who were inspired. I study the Bible daily.

I write for myself things that I’ve gone through.

Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same persons. Neither the offender nor the offended are any more themselves.

Honestly, I never really put the mic down.

I love those who yearn for the impossible.

I don’t dislike any of my exes. If I took time to form a relationship, it’s gonna hurt when we move on, but are you puttin‘ White-Out over all that beautiful time together? That was real time in your life. It’s connected to where you are today.

A shady business never yields a sunny life.