There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness.

Our existence is beyond our explanation, whether we believe in God or we have religion or we’re atheist. Our existence is beyond our understanding. No one has an answer.

The utmost extent of man’s knowledge, is to know that he knows nothing.

When a man bleeds inwardly, it is a dangerous thing for himself; but when he laughs inwardly, it bodes no good to other people.

A novel is never anything, but a philosophy put into images.

Simplicity is the most deceitful mistress that ever betrayed man.

I don’t think I get that upset over things.

There’s this lingering philosophy that movie stars shouldn’t do TV.

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

Power does not change you, it unmasks you.

The only way to have a friend is to be one.

You aren’t your work, your accomplishments, your possessions, your home, your family… your anything. You’re a creation of your Source, dressed in a physical human body intended to experience and enjoy life on Earth.

Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.

O God, O God, how weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!

It’s not catastrophes, murders, deaths, diseases, that age and kill us; it’s the way people look and laugh, and run up the steps of omnibuses.

We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.

Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.

My theory is 98 percent of all human endeavor is killing time.

I try to speak plainly so that my constituents who don’t follow the nuances of government like I do, because they’re too busy earning a real living, can understand the issues before me. None of this stuff is brain surgery.

You say it is the good cause that hallows even war? I say unto you: it is the good war that hallows any cause.

Everything in excess is opposed to nature.

The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.

It is not love that should be depicted as blind, but self-love.

We should not be so taken up in the search for truth, as to neglect the needful duties of active life; for it is only action that gives a true value and commendation to virtue.

God is a concept by which we measure our pain.

Simple goes a long way.

Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.

I can do no other than be reverent before everything that is called life. I can do no other than to have compassion for all that is called life. That is the beginning and the foundation of all ethics.

It is natural to die as to be born.

If you don’t like what you’re doing, then don’t do it.

Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.

Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.

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?

We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

Boredom, anger, sadness, or fear are not ‚yours,‘ not personal. They are conditions of the human mind. They come and go. Nothing that comes and goes is you.

I make preparations both to live and to die every day, but with the emphasis on not dying, and on acting as if I was going to carry on living.

The blessed of us must save the less of us. I’m blessed, and yeah, I’m planning to go to Heaven.

I had a period in my life where I decided that I would never be bored again and that, if I had any free time at all, I would make plans, and I would always be doing things. It actually was great for a year or so, but then I lost all of my friends.

As soon as questions of will or decision or reason or choice of action arise, human science is at a loss.

Our necessities never equal our wants.

What is earnest is not always true; on the contrary, error is often more earnest than truth.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know.

The true artist is not proud: he unfortunately sees that art has no limits; he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and though he may be admired by others, he is sad not to have reached that point to which his better genius only appears as a distant, guiding sun.

God is a thought who makes crooked all that is straight.

Everything’s intentional. It’s just filling in the dots.

The most happy man is he who knows how to bring into relation the end and beginning of his life.

Man the individual consoles himself for his passing with the thought of the offspring or the works which he leaves behind.

Nothing I can say or devise, and nothing anybody else can say or devise, is going to be perfect.

It’s dangerous to read the Internet about yourself when you’re me. Or when you’re anyone in the public eye.

The Tao teaches us not to intervene and interfere. The things we love we have to learn to leave alone. And the people we love we have to learn to let them be.

And, after all, what is a lie? ‚Tis but the truth in a masquerade.

If men were born free, they would, so long as they remained free, form no conception of good and evil.

The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.

I don’t really read a lot of newspapers. I don’t pay attention to what is being said or written about me. I’ve had lots of experiences in the past when I got too much into it. That sort of diverts your focus.

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.

Yesterday’s weirdness is tomorrow’s reason why.

What if nothing exists and we’re all in somebody’s dream?

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.

When we’re looking for compassion, we need someone who is deeply rooted, is able to bend and, most of all, embraces us for our strengths and struggles.