Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.

For me, the world that I inhabit in reality is probably a very different world than the one people expect that I would be in.

People should pursue what they’re passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.

Enemies are so stimulating.

One of my goals from really early on was that if I was ever fortunate enough to be successful in music, I would want to stay the same person and the same songwriter.

Whoever doesn’t know it must learn and find by experience that ‚a quiet conscience makes one strong!‘

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes… and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.

I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.

It’s amazing: I am a New Yorker. It’s strange; I never thought I would be.

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.

If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting.

You either make dust or eat dust.

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.

The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.

I was a kind of hyper-intense person in my twenties and very impatient.

I used to have a real problem with self-pity. Every time the devil would throw a pity party, I would attend.

My lighter, more superficial side will always steal a march on the deeper side and therefore always win. You can’t imagine how often I’ve tried to push away this Anne, which is only half of what is known as Anne – to beat her down, hide her.

To meditate means to go home to yourself. Then you know how to take care of the things that are happening inside you, and you know how to take care of the things that happen around you.

My father was a negative person. He actually taught me to be negative, if that makes any sense. I remember him saying: ‚You know there’s no point in expecting anything good to happen because it won’t.‘ I grew up in such a negative atmosphere.

What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.

By the time you get dressed, drive out there, play 18 holes and come home, you’ve blown seven hours. There are better things you can do with your time.

Whether for life or death, do your own work well.

It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.

Humor has bailed me out of more tight situations than I can think of. If you go with your instincts and keep your humor, creativity follows. With luck, success comes, too.

Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.

If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.

The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold.

Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. For remember, you don’t live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too.

If we are to be happy, we must first react against our tendency to follow the line of least resistance, a tendency that causes us either to remain as we are, or to look primarily to activities external to ourselves for what will provide new impetus to our lives.

I’m over being a pop star. I don’t wanna be a hot girl. I wanna be iconic. And I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. I feel like I’m highly respected, which is more important than any award or any amount of records. And I feel like there comes a point when being a pop star is not enough.

Nobody looks like they did when they were 20, so why not take advantage of the fact that you’re changing, emotionally as well as physically?

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.

You have to just make the choices you make in life. I made the choices I made because I believed they were right for me.

It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.

There’s a long way to fall when you pretend that you’re so far away from the earth, far away from reality, floating in a bubble that’s protected by fame or success. It’s scary, and it’s the thing I fear the most: to be swallowed up by that bubble. It can be poison to you, fame.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.

Few men would dare to read their own autobiography if all their deeds were recorded in it; few can look back upon their entire career without a blush.

Well begun is half done.

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

Riches have never fascinated me, unless combined with the greatest charm or distinction.

The child inside of you knows how to take things as they come, how to deal most effectively and happily with everything and everyone it encounters on this planet. If you can recapture that childlike essence of your being, you can stay ‚forever young at heart.‘

Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.

I always had a sense of discipline in me. However, there was a time when I couldn’t divide my time properly between off-field things and on-field assignments. The focus would be missing at times, and that would affect my preparation for matches. I managed to change that.

Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

It is not he who reviles or strikes you who insults you, but your opinion that these things are insulting.

If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.

A warrior is not a person that carries a gun. The biggest war you ever go through is right between your own ears. It’s in your mind. We’re all going through a war in our mind, and we have to callus our mind to fight that war and to win that war.

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from.

I’m not the most patient of people.

Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be our best. Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth; it’s a shield.

One’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead.

Avoid popularity if you would have peace.

There is no waste of time in life like that of making explanations.

Though ambition in itself is a vice, it often is also the parent of virtue.

I don’t tell people, ‚You’re okay the way that you are.‘ That’s not the right story. The right story is, ‚You’re way less than you could be.‘

My lectures, based on Islamic teachings, were on various subjects. Some of the titles were, ‚The Intoxication of Life,‘ ‚The Purpose of Life,‘ ‚The Real Cause of Man’s Distress,‘ ‚The Journey to the Goal in Life,‘ and, one of my favorites, ‚The Heart of Man.‘ They contained important insights that spoke to something deep inside me.