To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

For me, I used to be shy towards journalism because it wasn’t poetry. And then I realized that the events that I covered in essays that became journalism were actually great because they inspired me, and they became my muse.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth to see it like it is, and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.

Don’t let the incidents which take place in life bring you low. And certainly don’t whine. You can be brought low, that’s OK, but don’t be reduced by them. Just say, ‚That’s life.‘

Men take only their needs into consideration – never their abilities.

I think and that is all that I am.

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

The world can criticize me, but l can always criticize it back.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‚I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.‘

There’s a deceptive sin that can keep us from walking in love: pride. It’s deceptive because when you have pride, you’re usually too proud to admit it. I know this because I used to have teachings on pride and they didn’t sell well.

I think everyone’s inherently snobbish. Things that are very popular are not taken seriously, because the snobbish side of one says, ‚Well, if everyone likes it it can’t be that good.‘ Whereas if only I and a couple of other people like it, then it must be really something special.

When I wake up in the morning, I feel just like any other insecure 24-year-old girl.

If you try to protect yourself from pain, it becomes a stone in your heart. But the more you learn to face things, the more likely that stone can become a pearl.

I don’t need you to be funny. I don’t want to be entertained.

Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome.

Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people.

Writing is challenging work because it’s so easy to get consumed with how it’s going, what’s going to happen to it, who’s going to like or not like it. You want to get all of that stuff out of your head and just let the work flow.

Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men must walk, at least, before they dance.

I don’t care if people I admire criticize me because their opinion is valuable to me.

Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.

A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them.

What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.

Rioting is a childish way of trying to be a man, but it takes time to rise out of the hell of hatred and frustration and accept that to be a man you don’t have to riot.

To me, my house is always recreating what I lost in youth.

In those days he was wiser than he is now; he used to frequently take my advice.

Everyone now knows how to find the meaning of life within himself. But mankind wasn’t always so lucky. Less than a century ago, men and women did not have easy access to the puzzle boxes within them.

I don’t like to write like God. It is only because you never do it, though, that the critics think you can’t do it.

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.

It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

Wanting to feel good is synonymous with wanting to feel God.

I think women want to take care of themselves, and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important.

I couldn’t ever go back home without being something. I probably would never have gone back home. That was definitely a big motivation. To get back home, and not empty-handed.

I’ve never been one to sit back and go, ‚I’d better do what the audience wants me to do, because I don’t want to lose them.‘

I say what I want to say and do what I want to do. There’s no in between. People will either love you for it or hate you for it.

My children came out as individuals in their own right. They were not my products. They had their own characters and were very strong-minded. I gave them a lot of freedom when they were still very young. The one thing they got from me is morals. They would never betray anyone. They are really good people.

I hate the giving of the hand unless the whole man accompanies it.

I don’t see myself in terms of artifice. I see myself as a real person who chooses to live my life in an open way – artistically.

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

Anything I’ve ever said, I certainly was feeling at the time.

You stand out in the crowd only because you have these many, many carrying you on their shoulders.

I like criticism. It makes you strong.

None of the records I make are ever a deliberate construction – they’re always an expression of who I am at the time and where I am in my life.

Life’s too short to hang out with people who aren’t resourceful.

If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.

The best things and best people rise out of their separateness; I’m against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise.

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

I’m a really particular person. I want it my way.

I believe enlightenment or revelation comes in daily life. I look for joy, the peace of action. You need action. I’d have stopped writing years ago if it were for the money.

I’m just like you – I want to be a good human being. I’m doing my best, and I’m working at it. And I’m trying to be a Christian. I’m always amazed when people walk up to me and say, ‚I’m a Christian.‘ I always think, ‚Already? You’ve already got it?‘ I’m working at it. And at my age, I’ll still be working at it at 96.

It is only to the individual that a soul is given.

Better understated than overstated. Let people be surprised that it was more than you promised and easier than you said.

It’s hard for anybody who’s been with me not to feel starved for affection when I’m making love to my ideas. Maybe it’s not meant for me to settle down and be married.

Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.

I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming from inside. There’s no tricks. It’s honesty with big melodies.

Everyone goes through adversity in life, but what matters is how you learn from it.

I need to keep working on myself for a while.

I didn’t want to be a fashion designer, and for a good half of my career I didn’t like it. I always wanted to do other things.

I grew up in an environment where being polite was taken as a weakness. So I just fought everybody.

I want people to draw strength from me.

Always first draw fresh breath after outbursts of vanity and complacency.