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

I am never satisfied with myself and that is what keeps me going – I have no post-satisfaction.

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

Humility is not something that comes naturally. But it is a cardinal virtue that should be pursued more than any other.

You can become an even more excellent person by constantly setting higher and higher standards for yourself and then by doing everything possible to live up to those standards.

These words dropped into my childish mind as if you should accidentally drop a ring into a deep well. I did not think of them much at the time, but there came a day in my life when the ring was fished up out of the well, good as new.

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

Getting organized in the normal routines of life and finishing little projects you’ve started is an important first step toward realizing larger goals. If you can’t get a handle on the small things, how will you ever get it together to focus on the big things?

We have a tendency to condemn people who are different from us, to define their sins as paramount and our own sinfulness as being insignificant.

Me, as a person, I grow. I’m like a chameleon. You know? That is a gift and a curse for me. But more so a gift, because it never puts me in a box.

Your energy, your spirit are important considerations. Feeling petty and frustrated can have reverberating consequences for your ability to think strategically and reach your goals.

I tend to get bored quickly, which means I must be boring.

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

It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It’s a way of life for me.

In the course of my life, I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.

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.

As I grow up, the lessons I learn in love and relationships and how we treat each other are hopefully maturing – hopefully.

There’s a victory, and defeat; the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats which each man gains or sustains at the hands not of another, but of himself.

I have a terrifying long list of fears. Literally everything – diseases, spiders… and people getting tired of me.

Many a man’s strength is in opposition, and when he faileth, he grows out of use.

The man never feels the want of what it never occurs to him to ask for.

I think, when you are growing up, you have to pull apart from what your mother wants or needs. You’ve got to go your own way, and that’s what I did.

Before finding music, I didn’t have too many aspirations. I wanted to hang out, make a little money from whatever I had to do.

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.

A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others.

I’m one of the world’s most self-conscious people. I really have to struggle.

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.

We thought that we had the answers, it was the questions we had wrong.

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.

I was a bit challenged when I was younger to stay on the right path.

Sometimes, I want to talk on a song and be angry, because I am angry. Then there’s always a part of me that remembers that this record lives past my being angry, and so do I really want to be angry about that? Is that feeling going to have longevity?

You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.

I allow myself to fail. I allow myself to break. I’m not afraid of my flaws.

A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.

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.

The wit knows that his place is at the tail of a procession.

Over the years I’ve learned how to lock myself up in a prison of hope, knowing that God has nothing but His best planned for me. He promised me things concerning my ministry and my life.

My whole thing is to inspire, to better people, to better myself forever in this thing that we call rap, this thing that we call hip hop.

In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.

The only way you gain mental toughness is to do things you’re not happy doing. If you continue doing things that you’re satisfied and make you happy, you’re not getting stronger. You’re staying where you’re at. Either you’re getting better, or you’re getting worse. You’re not staying the same.

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

I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.

When you know a thing, to hold that you know it, and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it – this is knowledge.

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.

The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous, and I never dreamt I would be famous.

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

Breathing in, I am aware of my heart. Breathing out, I smile to my heart and know that my heart still functions normally. I feel grateful for my heart.

Those who want the Government to regulate matters of the mind and spirit are like men who are so afraid of being murdered that they commit suicide to avoid assassination.

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

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

Real life is the life that’s in you, not your circumstances, like where you live or what job you have or who you’re in relationship with.

Could the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state.

The person who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.

You have a nice personality, but not for a human being.

You’re going to go through tough times – that’s life. But I say, ‚Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.‘ See the positive in negative events.

I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside.

I don’t think I will ever be content. I am somebody who is always hungry.

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