Sweet are the uses of adversity which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

I love those who do not know how to live for today.

Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.

My father wasn’t around when I was a kid, and I used to always say, ‚Why me? Why don’t I have a father? Why isn’t he around? Why did he leave my mother?‘ But as I got older I looked deeper and thought, ‚I don’t know what my father was going through, but if he was around all the time, would I be who I am today?‘

Whoever is happy will make others happy too.

If a man or woman is born ten years sooner or later, their whole aspect and performance shall be different.

Our best thoughts come from others.

Life loves the liver of it.

If music be the food of love, play on.

Tell the truth, but tell it slant.

The best advice comes from people who don’t give advice.

As a medical doctor, I have known the face of adversity. I have seen much of death and dying, suffering and sorrow. I also remember the plight of students overwhelmed by their studies and of those striving to learn a foreign language. And I recall the fatigue and frustration felt by young parents with children in need.

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

Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.

As long as you live, keep learning how to live.

I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and… I believe in miracles.

We are what we believe we are.

If a man does his best, what else is there?

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

I’ve got my Grammys on top of my piano and I look at them when I play.

A lot of people have it a lot worse than you do.

Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.

It is understanding that gives us an ability to have peace. When we understand the other fellow’s viewpoint, and he understands ours, then we can sit down and work out our differences.

Music is this divine thing, the closest that we can get to something divine. It’s like this instinct we all own, and some of us have found a way to hear that music and write it down and share it with people.

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.

Is the babe young? When I behold it, it seems more venerable than the oldest man.

Remember, you can always stoop and pick up nothing.

It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

I didn’t die young. So I am very lucky. There are other artists and people that didn’t survive certain things… people can imagine that I did the most dangerous, and I did the worst… for many reasons, I shouldn’t be here.

Exploration by real people inspires us.

The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.

All art is but imitation of nature.

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.

Surely a long life must be somewhat tedious, since we are forced to call in so many trifling things to help rid us of our time, which will never return.

Wow, I get to wake up again? Ok. You have to make good with what you’ve got.

There may sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down; and they will succeed, too, if he allows his mind to be diverted from its true channel to brood over the attempted injury.

I have no interest in Shakespeare and all that British nonsense… I just wanted to get famous and all the rest is hogwash.

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

If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.

If we hope for what we are not likely to possess, we act and think in vain, and make life a greater dream and shadow than it really is.

My dad used to have an expression – ‚It is the lucky person who gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what they are about to do, and thinks it still matters.‘

You have to dream before your dreams can come true.

You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog.

The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.

Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel.

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

I think a big test we all face in life on a regular basis is that discouragement test. Life’s not always fair, but I believe if you keep doing the right thing, God will get you to where you are.

People don’t realize that we, we meaning people in show business, have the same problems as everyone else. Money doesn’t change that. Fame doesn’t change that. Sometimes that brings on more problems. You know, it’s just a different kind of problems.

Men do not shape destiny, Destiny produces the man for the hour.

Every collaboration helps you grow. With Bowie, it’s different every time. I know how to create settings, unusual aural environments. That inspires him. He’s very quick.

If someone decides they’re not going to be happy, it’s not your problem. You don’t have to spend your time and energy trying to cheer up someone who has already decided to stay in a bad mood. Believe it or not, you can actually hurt people by playing into their self-pity.

The human race is governed by its imagination.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.

I remember being in Japan when Destiny’s Child put out ‚Independent Women,‘ and women there were saying how proud they were to have their own jobs, their own independent thinking, their own goals. It made me feel so good, and I realized that one of my responsibilities was to inspire women in a deeper way.

There is no subject so old that something new cannot be said about it.

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.