We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.

When you go on your Twitter or look down your Timeline and it’s all great positivity – I love that. But at the same time, it can really divert you from what your purpose is or what you’re trying to do. And I’ve seen artists get caught up in that.

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

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

No matter how bad any situation, cynicism has no positive impact. Watching the news, you might notice that cynicism and victimhood often seem to go hand-in-hand, but not for veterans.

You make yourself broad. You make yourself appealing. ‚Hey, y’all, I’m cool with everybody.‘ That’s my message.

Instead of being critical of people in authority over you and envious of their position, be happy you’re not responsible for everything they have to do. Instead of piling on complaints, thank them for what they do. Overwhelm them with encouragement and appreciation!

I do all the evil I can before I learn to shun it? Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.

All through my writing life, I’ve had this impulse to write autobiographical works.

If one dream dies, dream another dream. If you get knocked down, get back up and go again.

Do not let circumstances control you. You change your circumstances.

Occasionally the conflict between ‚what we stand for‘ and ‚what we do‘ has been forthrightly addressed.

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.

Why should we think upon things that are lovely? Because thinking determines life. It is a common habit to blame life upon the environment. Environment modifies life but does not govern life. The soul is stronger than its surroundings.

In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.

Will not a tiny speck very close to our vision blot out the glory of the world, and leave only a margin by which we see the blot? I know no speck so troublesome as self.

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.

The longer I live, the more I feel that true repose consists in ‚renouncing‘ one’s own self, by which I mean making up one’s mind to admit that there is no importance whatever in being ‚happy‘ or ‚unhappy‘ in the usual meaning of the words.

I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.

It’s much worse to read criticism about your son than yourself.

We are not actually equal – humanity – if we are not allowed to freely love one another.

The worst government is often the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.

Observe all men, thyself most.

Send forth the child and childish man together, and blush for the pride that libels our own old happy state, and gives its title to an ugly and distorted image.

It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that matters is where you are going.

All human evil comes from a single cause, man’s inability to sit still in a room.

The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape.

Science is a beautiful gift to humanity; we should not distort it.

If I am no longer disturbed myself, I will deal less with disturbed people, but I don’t regret having concerned myself with them because I think most of us are disturbed.

When you seek the presence of your creative Spirit and are filled with passion about virtually everything you undertake, you’ll successfully remove the roadblocks from your life and enjoy the active presence of Spirit.

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‚If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?‘ And whenever the answer has been ‚No‘ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.

I like to take every day just searching my own heart, making sure that I’m on course, and I’m doing what God wants me to do. I’m real good with not looking to the critics and looking straight ahead.

Anyone who cannot come to terms with his life while he is alive needs one hand to ward off a little his despair over his fate… but with his other hand he can note down what he sees among the ruins.

Most people already know what they’re doing wrong. When I get them to church I want to tell them that you can change.

It’s impossible to live a life totally free of feelings. God created all of us to be emotional creatures, and feelings are a big part of our lives.

All of my misfortunes come from having thought too well of my fellows.

I don’t know what can be so dangerous about giving people hope. Causing people to have better relationships. I’m not leading them to some false God or something like that.

There may sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down; and they will succeed, too, if he allows his mind to be diverted from its true channel to brood over the attempted injury.

I think sometimes the critics want me to beat people down, and that’s not in me. I want to lift people up.

If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.

Despair is perfectly compatible with a good dinner, I promise you.

Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life.

Books are like a mirror. If an ass looks in, you can’t expect an angel to look out.

There will be days when I walk in an arena and people will cheer and then there might be days when I walk in an arena and people might boo, but it all sounds the same to me because it’s all just noise that lets me know that I’m relevant.

Honor thy error as a hidden intention.

We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.

Be nice to the whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.

I have good days and bad days.

Be careful what you set your heart upon – for it will surely be yours.

My message is that God is a good God.

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don’t always agree with them.

Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why.

I used to let other people’s struggles affect my happiness. If they weren’t happy, there was no way I was going to be happy. The opposite was also true: If I wasn’t happy, I didn’t want anyone around me to be happy.

At fifty everyone has the face he deserves.

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.

When I see myself as an old woman, I just think about being happy. And hopefully, I’ll still be fly.