The great epochs of our life are the occasions when we gain the courage to rebaptize our evil qualities as our best qualities.

I think that somehow, we learn who we really are and then live with that decision.

The most propagandistic element of ‚Frozen‘ was the transformation of the prince at the beginning of the story, who was a perfectly good guy, into a villain with no character development whatsoever about three-quarters of the way to the ending.

I learned, when I look in the mirror and tell my story, that I should be myself and not peep whatever everybody is doing.

Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.

We should purify our innate well of contentment – what a wonderful expression – and then external things will be in harmony with us.

I was asked to act when I couldn’t act. I was asked to sing ‚Funny Face‘ when I couldn’t sing, and dance with Fred Astaire when I couldn’t dance – and do all kinds of things I wasn’t prepared for. Then I tried like mad to cope with it.

If you want to be a good writer, be the best writer in the world. That’s what I’ve done.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That’s my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it’s not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.

We all have a tendency to avoid our weaknesses. When we do that, we never progress or get any better.

Be as you wish to seem.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

You fail only if you stop writing.

Maybe other people will try to limit me but I don’t limit myself.

You know, it’s not the world that was my oppressor, because what the world does to you, if the world does it to you long enough and effectively enough, you begin to do to yourself.

You don’t want to pigeonhole yourself.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

Most of one’s life is one prolonged effort to prevent oneself thinking.

If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.

When you realize who you live for, and who’s important to please, a lot of people will actually start living. I am never going to get caught up in that. I’m gonna look back on my life and say that I enjoyed it – and I lived it for me.

God made you a masterpiece – be blessed, secure, disciplined and equipped.

Doubt in my tradition is something that is very helpful. Because of doubt, you can thirst more and you will get a higher kind of proof.

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is.

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.

It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.

Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.

Because you know when you first become famous, you start walking a little different because people are staring at you.

Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.

It definitely has learning a lesson about the way you’re living your life. I wouldn’t compare our movie to that, but it has a structure where it’s about a man who doesn’t appreciate all that he has and finds out at the end that life has been great and he has to enjoy that.

I just want to be just as everyone else. I want to educate myself and be just like a normal teenager.

Do something everyday for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.

I don’t know how to function without music. When I’m not making it, I’m listening to it. It gives me courage and takes care of my mind.

It is possible to live happily in the here and the now. So many conditions of happiness are available – more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don’t have to run into the future in order to get more.

To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice.

I’m not ashamed to say I fear something.

I am an over-achiever, and I want to be known for the good things in my life.

There’s only one effectively redemptive sacrifice, the sacrifice of self-will to make room for the knowledge of God.

As for accomplishments, I just did what I had to do as things came along.

In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us.

Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others.

Vanity is great motivation, to be fair.

No person is important enough to make me angry.

Just as courage imperils life, fear protects it.

So much of what we do every single day is the result of habits that we have formed over time.

In my next incarnation, I want to be a writer.

I’m intimidated by the fear of being average.

Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know – and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance.

Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.

It’s more interesting for me to figure out how to be superior in areas where I’m naive, where I’m a novice.

A day wasted on others is not wasted on one’s self.

Let go of offence. Let go of fear. Let go of revenge. Don’t live angry, let go now!

I realised a little bit to my astonishment that I can give a lecture for a thousand people, and there will be this tumultuous applause, so, you know, I have the feeling well, it can’t be all that bad.

It’s so easy to settle for less than God’s best for us because we don’t always feel like taking responsibility for our behavior or putting forth some effort to do what we need to do so we can accomplish great things for God and help people. But the cost of settling for less is actually harder than being completely obedient to God’s will.

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.