True happiness arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one’s self, and in the next, from the friendship and conversation of a few select companions.

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.

You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.

It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.

My main goal is to be a self-made man and have control over what’s mine.

Not what I have, but what I do is my kingdom.

There are some Christian people who taste and see and enjoy religion in their own souls, and who get at a deeper knowledge of it than books can ever give them, though they should search all their days.

Suffering by nature or chance never seems so painful as suffering inflicted on us by the arbitrary will of another.

My purpose is to help people look at themselves and begin to shift their concepts. Remember, we are not our country, our race, or religion. We are eternal spirits. Seeing ourselves as spiritual beings without label is a way to transform the world and reach a sacred place for all of humanity.

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

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

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

I think the worst part about a breakup sometimes, if one could choose a worst part, would possibly be if you get out of a relationship, and you don’t recognize yourself because you changed a lot about you.

Understand this law and you will then know, beyond room for the slightest doubt, that you are constantly punishing yourself for every wrong you commit and rewarding yourself for every act of constructive conduct in which you indulge.

The palace is not safe when the cottage is not happy.

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’m one of the luckiest people on earth.

I don’t like it when people who are young act like they’re 40. That’s taking too much on. Putting up a shield and trying to act like you’re so mature or whatever – I don’t try to act mature. Some people might say I’m mature for my age, but it’s not something I’m trying to do, you know? I’m just me.

I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.

I know this sounds strange, but as a kid, I was really shy. Painfully shy. The turning point was freshman year, when I was the biggest geek alive. No one, I mean no one, even talked to me.

Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit.

We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body.

I have a really close relationship with Mike Bloomberg.

I don’t look at my old work. I mean, they made nice books; the books were made without me, the one from last year and the one from this year. I – personally, I’m not interested in my own past. I’m only interested in today – perhaps tomorrow.

Of course, to have money is just great because you can do what you think is important to you. I always was a rich person because money’s not related to happiness.

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.

The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquillity is not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there.

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

I’m not intimidated by how people perceive me.

The giving of love is an education in itself.

I’ve always written. There’s a journal which I kept from about 9 years old. The man who gave it to me lived across the street from the store and kept it when my grandmother’s papers were destroyed. I’d written some essays. I loved poetry, still do. But I really, really loved it then.

I can very well do without God both in my life and in my painting, but I cannot, suffering as I am, do without something which is greater than I am, which is my life, the power to create.

Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.

If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have a paradise in a few years.

Doubt, of whatever kind, can be ended by action alone.

What makes me happy is just curling up in with my mom in her bed and watching a marathon of ‚CSI‘ and ‚Grey’s Anatomy‘ episodes with pints of ice cream.

The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble. They can never be solved but only outgrown.

Catering to bad feelings feeds and empowers them.

Some people are very good at being ‚stars‘ and it suits them. I’m grudging about it and I find it annoying.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to trust your team. It’s a lesson I’ve had to relearn quite a few times.

There is no friend as loyal as a book.

I think my worst problem is actually living in the moment and understanding everything that’s going on. I feel like I’m in my own bubble.

For most of us, wisdom is acquired in the thicket of experience and usually meets us somewhere along the way if we live long enough. But sooner is better than later.

I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.

I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.

I restore myself when I’m alone.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.

When I was making the early stuff, I never expected it to be so big. I was in my own kind of bubble. I never wanted to tour; I just wanted to create music and make a diary I could put out into the world. And sometimes, I became the characters.

Sometimes I’m a bit under-aggressive and sometimes a bit over. But I think it’s good to have both.

No matter what, people grow. If you chose not to grow, you’re staying in a small box with a small mindset. People who win go outside of that box. It’s very simple when you look at it.

Know then this truth, enough for man to know virtue alone is happiness below.

I’ve never been pregnant, so I just feel God didn’t mean for me to have kids so that everybody else’s children could be mine.

I think I’ve developed, as many people do, this sense of, ‚Don’t say the wrong thing, or else people will point at you and laugh.‘

The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous, and I never dreamt I would be famous.

I am absolutely my own biggest critic.

In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the old they are a comfort and aid in their weakness, and those in the prime of life they incite to noble deeds.

I resigned from the Marine Corps and flying in 1974, even though I loved them both. I quit because I no longer wanted to fight for peace. Instead, I believe we can build a more sustainable peace by working for prosperity.

When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do well, that’s Memoirs.

To deal with individual human needs at the everyday level can be noble sometimes.