There is only one failure in life possible, and that is not to be true to the best one knows.

In art, at a certain level, there is no ‚better than.‘ It’s just about trying to operate for yourself on the most supreme level, artistically, that you can and hoping that people get it.

Keeping score is for games, not friendships.

The universe is transformation: life is opinion.

Let a man get up and say, Behold, this is the truth, and instantly I perceive a sandy cat filching a piece of fish in the background. Look, you have forgotten the cat, I say.

In matters of truth the fact that you don’t want to publish something is, nine times out of ten, a proof that you ought to publish it.

In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.

The advice I’ve been giving to people all my life – that you may not be interested in the dialectic but the dialectic is interested in you; you can’t give up politics, it won’t give you up – was the advice I should have been taking myself.

Only on paper has humanity yet achieved glory, beauty, truth, knowledge, virtue, and abiding love.

A scholar who cherishes the love of comfort is not fit to be deemed a scholar.

Truth is the beginning of every good to the gods, and of every good to man.

We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.

We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.

I think if we didn’t contradict ourselves, it would be awfully boring. It would be tedious to be alive.

I always wonder when it was that I was embraced.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

I know I will never be happy, but I know I can be gay!

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.

Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the end.

I’m sure a lot of people out there make mistakes.

Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.

I’m very, very serious – I’m serious enough not to take myself too seriously. That means I can be completely wedded to the moment. But when I leave that moment, I want to be completely wedded to the next moment.

I can’t keep somebody from being a star, and I can’t make somebody a star, and nobody can.

Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will – his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals.

The more successful I become, the more I need a man.

Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.

As unique as we all are, an awful lot of us want the same things. We want to shake up our current less-than-fulfilling lives. We want to be happier, more loving, forgiving and connected with the people around us.

Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.

Our inquiring friends and neighbors not of our faith can also catch the wave. We encourage them to keep all that is good and true in their lives. And we invite them to receive more, especially the glorious truth that through God’s eternal plan, families can be together forever.

The main rule to me is to honor God with your life. To life a life of integrity. Not be selfish. You know, help others. But that’s really the essence of the Christian faith.

People who want the most approval get the least and people who need approval the least get the most.

I believe that God’s dream is that we be successful in our careers, and that we be able to send our kids to college. I don’t mean that everyone is going to be rich, and I preach a lot on blooming where you’re planted. But I don’t have the mindset that money is a bad thing.

I always believed that when you follow your heart or your gut, when you really follow the things that feel great to you, you can never lose, because settling is the worst feeling in the world.

If we’re really honest with ourselves, most of us will admit that we want to impress people, and this is what’s causing us to do what we do.

Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.

I think that a man should not live beyond the age when he begins to deteriorate, when the flame that lighted the brightest moment of his life has weakened.

The truth is, somebody is always talking about you, so you have to let it go… if it’s not a part of your God-given destiny.

I feel confident imposing change on myself. It’s a lot more fun progressing than looking back. That’s why I need to throw curve balls.

Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.

Be careless in your dress if you must, but keep a tidy soul.

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

You are going to let the fear of poverty govern you life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live.

Prayer doesn’t just change things – it changes us. If we are diligent in seeking God, slowly and surely we become better people.

Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.

Part of the reason there’s an injunction to the truth, for example, is that if you’re in a circumstance of extreme uncertainty, your best weapon, let’s say, or your best tool or your best defense is the truth, because it keeps things simpler.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

Without failure there is no achievement.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.

I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated library in the South, all the way up until I walked up the steps of the New York City library, I always felt, in any town, if I can get to a library, I’ll be OK. It really helped me as a child, and that never left me.

Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.

Our heart glows, and secret unrest gnaws at the root of our being. Dealing with the unconscious has become a question of life for us.

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.

People always say when they meet me that I’m not what they expect. I assume they think I’m this super dark and depressing guy, but I like to channel all of those emotions into my work.

Ethics is in origin the art of recommending to others the sacrifices required for cooperation with oneself.

Real life? Well, I just hope mine isn’t investigated. They might find that I don’t really exist – that I’m just a hologram.

Now I realize that from ’72 through to about ’76, I was the ultimate rock star. I couldn’t have been more rock star.

I wanted to only create a great perfume, not any perfume that would sell, but a great artistic one that the fans would not feel cheated by.

They are resilient children, but they are children, and as much as they need help to understand the hard truths in life, they also need what we all need – protection and love.