The reason I talk to myself is that I’m the only one whose answers I accept.

For a young person, it is almost a sin, or at least a danger, to be too preoccupied with himself; but for the ageing person, it is a duty and a necessity to devote serious attention to himself.

A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.

I’ve always been really, really aware of my insecurities – really, really aware. I never developed that thick skin that keeps you from letting things get to you.

Sometimes I’m fascinated with how famous my work could be while I’m not so famous.

You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul.

Beauty is not caused. It is.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.

People like to blame others. I think a person should just look at their own situation, look around them, find out what they wish to do, and seek and go and do that. And that’s it.

We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – but never blame yourself. It’s never your fault. But it’s always your fault, because if you wanted to change you’re the one who has got to change.

It would be my guess that Madonna is not a very happy woman. From my own experience, having gone through persona changes like that, that kind of clawing need to be the center of attention is not a pleasant place to be.

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.

There is a road from the eye to heart that does not go through the intellect.

I don’t like it when people who are young act like they’re 40. That’s taking too much on. Putting up a shield and trying to act like you’re so mature or whatever – I don’t try to act mature. Some people might say I’m mature for my age, but it’s not something I’m trying to do, you know? I’m just me.

To observations which ourselves we make, we grow more partial for th‘ observer’s sake.

I don’t spend that much time being introspective, believe it or not. All I know is that I grew up not questioning God because that’s how you are. God was there like the birds and the wind.

My problem was my inability to spend much time at home. I thought my family was secure, so I went running around everyplace else. I guess I had more of an effect on other people’s kids than I did my own.

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

I’m very definitely a woman and I enjoy it.

I’m all about evolution. I’m the first person to judge myself.

Did you know there’s a difference between being busy and being fruitful? Did you ever stop to think that just being busy – running around in circles all day but not accomplishing anything – is the same as wasting your time? It’s frustrating to expend so much energy and time and not have any fruit from your effort!

No one’s policing their own minds more than an author. You spend a lot of time in your own head analysing what you think about things, and a philosophy comes.

How simple a thing it seems to me that to know ourselves as we are, we must know our mothers names.

I was very depressed when I was 19… I would go back to my apartment every day and I would just sit there. It was quiet and it was lonely. It was still. It was just my piano and myself. I had a television and I would leave it on all the time just to feel like somebody was hanging out with me.

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.‘

I sometimes think that God in creating man somewhat overestimated his ability.

The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection.

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.

I don’t think that much about my relationship with my mother and what it did to me. I sometimes feel terrible regret about her, what her life must have been like. Often, when I’m enjoying something, I think of how meager her rewards were and how much courage, in a way, she needed to go on living.

A first sign of the beginning of understanding is the wish to die.

There is a piece of me that likes to fondly imagine my maverick and rebellious nature. But, more accurately, I like to have a nice and cosy institution that I can rub up against a little bit.

I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. I’m really confused now.

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.

It’s normal for human beings to identify with their own separate self. The problem is that we get caught in that notion of ourself as a separate individual and caught in that individual self’s agenda.

The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and about all time.

I definitely connected to the fact that life gets out of control and you end up doing things and wishing you were doing other things instead.

I deeply regret any harm, or any perceived harm, that I may have done to anyone by any behaviour of mine.

To be ashamed of one’s immorality: that is a step on the staircase at whose end one is also ashamed of one’s morality.

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.

As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself.

A man must now swallow more belief than he can digest.

No man is hurt but by himself.

Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.

I owe my solitude to other people.

If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.

I’m always just surprised when someone writes something about me.

When I was married, I definitely went through a lying period.

I was a thug.

To have no time for philosophy is to be a true philosopher.

I’ve lived a very colorful life, and I’ve said some things, But not once have I taken them back, and I’ve never apologized for them – and I won’t.

There are some Christian people who taste and see and enjoy religion in their own souls, and who get at a deeper knowledge of it than books can ever give them, though they should search all their days.

When you’re 40, you can’t ride the fence anymore. You gotta make definite decisions about your life.

What I can say is that all my characters are searching for their souls, because they are my mirrors. I’m someone who is constantly trying to understand my place in the world, and literature is the best way that I found in order to see myself.

Timidity makes a person modest. It makes him or her say, ‚I’m not worthy of being written up in the record of deeds in heaven or on earth.‘ Timidity keeps people from their good. They are afraid to say, ‚Yes, I deserve it.‘

I was willing to accept what I couldn’t change.

When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.

The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosopher’s or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself, and that is why you must know yourself – Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self.

The hippie movement politicized my generation. When it ended, we all started looking back at our own history, looking, in my case, for motives of rebellion.

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.

Books are like a mirror. If an ass looks in, you can’t expect an angel to look out.

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