To be happy we must not be too concerned with others.

I’m confident in who I am. I’ve come to a place in my life where I’ve accepted things that are me, as opposed to feeling pressure to explain myself to people around me. That’s just the way I’ve always tried to be. It didn’t change when I became a star.

I stopped doing drugs when I was 20. I was finished with drugs before Nirvana even started.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

Sometimes I try to just sit at home and do something calmer and simpler and just be in my life. You know, not trying to solve a lot of things at once.

I don’t see the point of doing an interview unless you’re going to share the things you learn in life and the mistakes you make. So to admit that I’m extremely human and have done some dark things I don’t think makes me unusual or unusually dark. I think it actually is the right thing to do, and I’d like to think it’s the nice thing to do.

I don’t care if you get up in the morning and don’t wash, don’t put any make-up on, don’t do your hair, even, but you have to have clothes if you want to look different.

It’s stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.

Many people think of perfectionism as striving to be your best, but it is not about self-improvement; it’s about earning approval and acceptance.

In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.

I became a people-watcher when I lost all my friends when I was 12.

What’s real freedom? Real freedom is being able to not have my way and still be just as happy as if I did.

I don’t regret anything.

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 love having an unlimited supply of cocoa butter.

Without exercise, I don’t feel like my head works right.

It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there’s nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.

I like to take it easy.

I’m not a person who defends myself very often. I kind of let my actions speak for me.

How easy it is to govern when one follows a system of consulting the will of the people and one holds as the only norm all the actions which contribute to the well being of the people.

I don’t need to be vindicated, and I don’t want attention.

A friend doesn’t go on a diet because you are fat.

We must be our own before we can be another’s.

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.

I have a terrifying long list of fears. Literally everything – diseases, spiders… and people getting tired of me.

I have an expression I use as I’ve gone around the world through my career: ‚You never tell another man or woman what’s in their interest. They know their interest better than you know their interest.‘

If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.

Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.

It’s hard to be clear about who you are when you are carrying around a bunch of baggage from the past. I’ve learned to let go and move more quickly into the next place.

We rarely confide in those who are better than we are.

For a long time, I thought I was ugly and disfigured. This made me shy and timid, and I often reacted to insults that were not intended.

I never knew a more presumptuous person than myself. The fact that I say that shows that what I say is true.

A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.

You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.

When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.

I would rather make my name than inherit it.

I’ve always been very happy. I’ve always been easy going and I’ve always been very encouraging; it’s just my personality.

When I was writing ‚Kitchen Confidential,‘ I was in my 40s, I had never paid rent on time, I was 10 years behind on my taxes, I had never owned my own furniture or a car.

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.

Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.

I was a bit challenged when I was younger to stay on the right path.

The only cure for contempt is counter-contempt.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

Fun is good.

There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.

Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.

Your life will be a blessed and balanced experience if you first honor your identity and priority.

You might be tough, but you can only be so tough for so long, you know what I mean? The brain can only take so much damage. The body can only take so much damage.

I put Catholic guilt to work pretty good for a rich rock star.

I want to solidify as an artist and show that as I grow as a person and make mistakes and learn from them, I’m going to grow artistically.

Character isn’t something you were born with and can’t change, like your fingerprints. It’s something you weren’t born with and must take responsibility for forming.

I want to put a ding in the universe.

Whether happiness may come or not, one should try and prepare one’s self to do without it.

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

When I was growing up, I wasn’t an extrovert. If anything, I was an introverted kid and a very average pupil at school. I was very quiet.

I don’t think there’s anyone who would say they don’t want or need more of God’s power in their life.

That is the real spiritual awakening, when something emerges from within you that is deeper than who you thought you were. So, the person is still there, but one could almost say that something more powerful shines through the person.

I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.

I think that’s the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.

I’m not perfect.