To create something you must be something.

God’s first creature, which was light.

I am a nuclear physicist by training and a deeply committed Christian. I don’t have any doubt in my own mind about God who created the entire universe. But I don’t adhere to passages that so and so was created 4,000 years before Christ, and things of that kind.

Desire is the very essence of man.

We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.

Never say anything about yourself you do not want to come true.

The reason that I’m here at all is because of my relationship with my family and their encouragement of me to be a musician and to work hard. As long as I stay there in that space, I can do anything. That’s my truth.

A man’s character is his fate.

The Army will take its lessons learned. They’re excellent at looking into themselves and reflecting on what did we do right, what did we do wrong.

Invest three percent of your income in yourself (self-development) in order to guarantee your future.

Most of one’s life is one prolonged effort to prevent oneself thinking.

The secret of success is constancy to purpose.

You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.

Whatever is making you so angry, it’s time for you to give it to God and get over it.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

We spend our lives, all of us, waiting for the great day, the great battle, or the deed of power. But that external consummation is not given to many: nor is it necessary. So long as our being is tensed, directed with passion, towards that which is the spirit of all things, then that spirit will emerge from our own hidden, nameless effort.

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.

Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.

The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.

What I’ve discovered is that in art, as in music, there’s a lot of truth-and then there’s a lie. The artist is essentially creating his work to make this lie a truth, but he slides it in amongst all the others. The tiny little lie is the moment I live for, my moment. It’s the moment that the audience falls in love.

Man’s greatness lies in his power of thought.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavors with his utmost care to hide his poverty from others, and his idleness from himself.

In 1995, I was diagnosed with cancer, and I had to practice what I preached. I had always said to ‚believe in God‘ and ‚don’t give up‘ to little kids who had been diagnosed with cancer. I then thought if I can’t call on that same God and same strength that I told people about, I would be a liar and a phony.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

The way to know life is to love many things.

Back in the day, what motivated me was overcoming myself. Now I believe in being a leader. I’ve done it all – I’m good. Now, it’s about setting an example for others to follow. I can’t just talk it – I have to live it.

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.

Life loves the liver of it.

All cruelty springs from weakness.

Frankly, I think that the news industry is critically important because it points out things and surfaces truths that can often be uncomfortable. I think that that’s working, and the spotlight has been pointed on things that we have a responsibility to do better, and I accept that.

I’m all about evolution. I’m the first person to judge myself.

Innovation can only occur where you can breathe free.

I’ve been studying the Bible for a long time. I remember that after the first five years or so of diligently studying the Word, I didn’t feel like I had made any progress. There were a lot of things in my life that were out of order, and I didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere.

I’m much healthier now.

It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.

Stories surge up out of nowhere, and if they feel compelling, you follow them. You let them unfold inside you and see where they are going to lead.

I’m no natural beauty. If I’m gonna have any looks at all, I’m gonna have to create them.

Ambition has one heel nailed in well, though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens.

The important thing is that your teammates have to know you’re pulling for them and you really want them to be successful.

I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know. And writing Langston Hughes replica poems became me wanting to write like Stevie Wonder.

Meditation is a vital practice to access conscious contact with your highest self.

Music comes to me more readily than words.

It is a no-fail, incontrovertible reality: If you get, give. If you learn, teach. You can’t do anything with that except do it.

He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.

Character, not circumstances, makes the man.

The proactive approach to a mistake is to acknowledge it instantly, correct and learn from it.

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.

When I am working on a book or a story, I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you, and it is cool or cold, and you come to your work and warm as you write.

I love playing ego and insecurity combined.

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.

The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.

One of the things I realized is that if you do not take control over your time and your life, other people will gobble it up. If you don’t prioritize yourself, you constantly start falling lower and lower on your list, your kids fall lower and lower on your list.

Trust not yourself, but your defects to know, make use of every friend and every foe.

Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he’s well dressed. There ain’t much credit in that.

If my businesses or my investments are not profitable, then I don’t eat. And I like to eat.

I was a housewife, so I learned to write in times off, and I don’t think I ever gave it up, though there were times when I was very discouraged because I began to see that the stories I was writing were not very good, that I had a lot to learn, and that it was a much, much harder job than I had expected.

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.