The hardest thing for – not only an artist but for anybody to do is look themselves in the mirror and acknowledge, you know, their own flaws and fears and imperfections and put them out there in the open for people to relate to it.

Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.

Boys do cry, but I don’t think I shed a tear for a good chunk of my teenage years.

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

I exaggerate when I’m angry, but I’ve never gone around telling people things that aren’t true about me.

At first, I was scared to show fear because you can never be sure how people will perceive you. But I dared myself to do that, to stand out. Now I’ll talk about being beaten up or robbed or making a stupid decision because of a girl or whatever.

People who do not know how to laugh are always pompous and self-conceited.

I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.

Follow that will and that way which experience confirms to be your own.

Fear makes us feel our humanity.

I’ve been called a moron since I was about four. My father called me a moron. My grandfather said I was a moron. And a lot of times when I’m driving, I hear I’m a moron. I like being a moron.

The slave is doomed to worship time and fate and death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour.

Honestly, I could care less about other people’s opinions about me.

Everyone has at least one story, and each of us is funny if we admit it. You have to admit you’re the funniest person you’ve ever heard of.

I’ve never professed to be anything but an average student.

I’ve always believed in God. I also think that’s the sort of thing that either comes as part of the equipment, the capacity to believe, or at some point in your life, when you’re in a position where you actually need help from a power greater than yourself, you simply make an agreement.

As we must account for every idle word, so must we account for every idle silence.

I have seen many storms in my life. Most storms have caught me by surprise, so I had to learn very quickly to look further and understand that I am not capable of controlling the weather, to exercise the art of patience and to respect the fury of nature.

If you consider the definition of authenticity, it’s saying something and actually doing it. I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers. Nothing goes out without my permission. It’s all authentic.

I really have no interest in myself.

No one is laughable who laughs at himself.

People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.

I invented my life by taking for granted that everything I did not like would have an opposite, which I would like.

A mission statement is not something you write overnight… But fundamentally, your mission statement becomes your constitution, the solid expression of your vision and values. It becomes the criterion by which you measure everything else in your life.

There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.

I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.

A game is like a mirror that allows you to look at yourself.

He who angers you conquers you.

Honestly, I’ve been thinking lately about how boring I am. When I do get time to myself, I watch TV.

The drama and the trauma of the relationship you have when you’re 16 can mirror the one you have when you’re 26. Life repeats itself.

Now I am older, I understand we have to accept who we are.

Mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o’clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do. And that includes me.

My weaknesses have always been food and men – in that order.

I don’t regret anything.

When I inspire myself, I want to spread the word because its important to be healthy. I don’t think they’re teaching us enough about that. I think we should eat better and exercise. Look who’s saying that – a guy who was 300 pounds – but I’m doing a lot better than I used to. I’m letting people know its important because it makes you feel better.

I haven’t changed at all. I’m the same as when I was 11.

If all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world.

I’m working at trying to be a Christian, and that’s serious business. It’s like trying to be a good Jew, a good Muslim, a good Buddhist, a good Shintoist, a good Zoroastrian, a good friend, a good lover, a good mother, a good buddy – it’s serious business.

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

There’s no way to remove the observer – us – from our perceptions of the world.

As for my own views, they’ve of course evolved over the years. This conception of ‚renouncing beliefs‘ is very odd, as if we’re in some kind of religious cult. I ‚renounce beliefs‘ practically every time I think about the topics or find out what someone else is thinking.

The thing I always say to people is this: ‚If you avoid failure, you also avoid success.‘

Getting money is not all a man’s business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

Whatever has happened in my quest for innovation has been part of my quest for immaculate reality.

Only the insecure strive for security.

I thank God I’m myself and for the life I’m given to live and for friends and lovers and beloveds, and I thank God for knowing that all those people have already paid for me.

My public is growing up just as I am. After all, I’m not 19 anymore and if I stick with the sex bit, who will be paying to see me when I’m 50?

I didn’t always have 14,000 people wanting to hang out with me on a Saturday night.

The Public is merely a multiplied ‚me.‘

Guarding your heart and protecting your dignity are a little bit more important than clarifying the emotions of someone who’s only texting you back three words. I’ve learned that from trying to figure out people who don’t deserve to be figured out.

I know what I believe, I know what I want to do, and I’m just comfortable saying it, and laying it out there.

Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.

With people of limited ability modesty is merely honesty. But with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy.

You have to just accept your body. You may not love it all the way, but you just have to be comfortable with it, comfortable with knowing that that’s your body.

We feel and know that we are eternal.

I started being really proud of the fact that I was gay even though I wasn’t.

In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.

I cry so much less than I used to. I used to be one of the most teary people.