Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.

I was ill, and everyone could see it but me.

I don’t believe in an outside agent that creates the world, then walks away. But I feel very strongly there is an intelligence at work in every flower, in every blade of grass, in every cell of my body. And it is that intelligence that, I wouldn’t say created the universe. It is creating the universe. It’s an ongoing process.

I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.

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

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.

Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.

To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.

Intolerance betrays want of faith in one’s cause.

A conductor can’t be too arrogant with an orchestra and try to impose himself too much.

At one time, I was very angry. I even treated fashion like a kind of crusade: you were either with us or against us, that kind of feeling. Now I know we need ideas, not kicking down a door.

Excess generally causes reaction, and produces a change in the opposite direction, whether it be in the seasons, or in individuals, or in governments.

I have seen how the foundations of the world are laid, and I have not the least doubt that it will stand a good while.

Feelings are more dangerous than ideas, because they aren’t susceptible to rational evaluation. They grow quietly, spreading underground, and erupt suddenly, all over the place.

In one day, I have times where I’m feeling great, I feel like I love my life, and then 2:30 rolls around and I’m the angriest man alive. My wife sees it.

You’re not going to say anything about me that I’m not going to say about myself. There’s so many things that I think about myself; if someone really wanted to get at me, they could say this and this and this. So I’m going to say it before they can. It’s the best policy for me.

I’ve been reckless, but I’m not a rebel without a cause.

A cynical young person is almost the saddest sight to see, because it means that he or she has gone from knowing nothing to believing nothing.

The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason.

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.

What I believe unites the people of this nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all – the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead.

God wants to help us… He loves us… we are His children. But He will not force His help on us at any time. He sees us when we struggle and fight and complain our way through things. And I believe it breaks His heart, when all we have to do is ask Him for help.

What I love best in life is new starts.

Once you feel loved by the universe, you’re already accepted, and you’re not really concerned about offending people.

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.

This soul, or life within us, by no means agrees with the life outside us. If one has the courage to ask her what she thinks, she is always saying the very opposite to what other people say.

For good nurture and education implant good constitutions.

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.

I’ll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there’s evidence of any thinking going on inside it.

Faith is different from proof; the latter is human, the former is a Gift from God.

What is this world that is hastening me toward I know not what, viewing me with contempt?

I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850.

What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.

I’m very picky; I’m never happy with anything. It’s so hard to give the record away and accept that you’re done.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.

If you can build a business up big enough, it’s respectable.

I am easily satisfied with the very best.

The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized – never knowing.

Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.

I know who I am, I know what I can and can’t do. I know what I will and won’t do. I know what I’m capable of and I don’t agree to do things that I don’t think I can pull off.

No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye.

Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me.

Talk to a man about himself and he will listen for hours.

If some people have the belief or view that the Dalai Lama has some miracle power, that’s totally nonsense. I am just one human being.

If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.

What it’s like to be me? You know, it’s good to be me. My life is good.

Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health.

I desire to press forward for direction to my Master in all things; but as to trusting to my own obedience and righteousness, I should be worse than a fool and ten times worse than a madman.

Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you’d never complete your life, would you? You’d never wholly know you.

When the oak is felled the whole forest echoes with it fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze.

The single most powerful thing I can be is to be myself.

The ego is only an illusion, but a very influential one. Letting the ego-illusion become your identity can prevent you from knowing your true self. Ego, the false idea of believing that you are what you have or what you do, is a backwards way of assessing and living life.

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

Capitalism has destroyed our belief in any effective power but that of self interest backed by force.

My crown is called content, a crown that seldom kings enjoy.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.

What we seek we shall find; what we flee from flees from us.

There are women who can make you feel more with their bodies and their souls, but these are the exact women who will turn the knife into you right in front of the crowd. Of course, I expect this, but the knife still cuts.

Don’t make me into this airy-fairy, moralist, idealist because I’m not.