We do not yet possess ourselves, and we know at the same time that we are much more.

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.

All I can do is be me, whoever that is.

I write for no other purpose than to add to the beauty that now belongs to me. I write a book for no other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent estate.

Whatever has happened in my quest for innovation has been part of my quest for immaculate reality.

Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.

Actors know what actors are insecure about – and they’re all insecure.

Never complain. Never explain.

You’ve got to learn to survive a defeat. That’s when you develop character.

Never complain and never explain.

I have had fun being who I became, so to speak.

How far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without?

My moms always told me, ‚How long you gonna play the victim?‘ I can say I’m mad and I hate everything, but nothing really changes until I change myself.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.

Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to us.

What nourishes me also destroys me.

I’m so happy I discovered early how wonderful music makes me feel.

I may be no better, but at least I am different.

People should make up their own mind about what they think of me.

A good essay must have this permanent quality about it; it must draw its curtain round us, but it must be a curtain that shuts us in not out.

If you start to think of your physical and moral condition, you usually find that you are sick.

Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.

How one life turns out is not dependent on what people do to us or what they don’t do for us.

I’ve arrived at the place if I’m not taking a career risk, I’m not happy. If I’m scared, then I know I’m being challenged.

If you’re always under the pressure of real identity, I think that is somewhat of a burden.

Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed.

To observations which ourselves we make, we grow more partial for th‘ observer’s sake.

I’ve learned a lot since I was a new mother. My approach to struggle and shame now is to talk to yourself like you’d talk to someone you love and reach out to tell your story.

Nobody can give you wiser advice than yourself.

Everybody that I was in school with had an uncle or father in the law, and I started to realize that I was going to end up writing briefs for about ten years for these fellows who I thought I was smarter than. And I was kind of losing my feeling for that.

I love being busy.

‚Victory‘ is like, you won, so the question is, what? What did you win? I think that the songs go into that. It’s just about reaching a place in myself.

I’ve lived a very colorful life, and I’ve said some things, But not once have I taken them back, and I’ve never apologized for them – and I won’t.

There’s a part of you – the born-again part, your spirit – that’s dead to sin. That’s why it bothers you now when you sin. The ‚wilderness‘ part of you – your soul – is your unrenewed mind, out-of-control emotions, and stubborn will.

It is really very important while you are young to live in an environment in which there is no fear. Most of us, as we grow older, become frightened; we are afraid of living, afraid of losing a job, afraid of tradition, afraid of what the neighbours, or what the wife or husband would say, afraid of death.

Don’t talk about what you have done or what you are going to do.

It is a great piece of folly to attempt to make anything out of my early life.

I think life is a matter of choices and that wherever we are, good or bad, is because of choices we make.

Within all of us is a divine capacity to manifest and attract all that we need and desire.

Usually, people have a tendency to be caught in the worries concerning the future or in the regret concerning the past. There is some kind of energy that is pushing them to run, and they are not able to establish themselves in the present moment.

It’s still scary every time I go back to the past. Each morning, my heart catches. When I get there, I remember how the light was, where the draft was coming from, what odors were in the air. When I write, I get all the weeping out.

I used to get into a lot of fights.

Somehow, we have come to the erroneous belief that we are all but flesh, blood, and bones, and that’s all. So we direct our values to material things.

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.

My work is the only ground I’ve ever had to stand on. To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation, but I’m working on the foundation.

I was in a terrible mess in my childhood.

You can be happy where you are.

Eventually you get to this point where you understand what you want to do and get across and sound like.

I never expected to be anybody important.

Dealing with backstabbers, there was one thing I learned. They’re only powerful when you got your back turned.

One travels more usefully when alone, because he reflects more.

He who angers you conquers you.

If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.

No man can reveal to you nothing but that which already lies half-asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

Discontent, blaming, complaining, self-pity cannot serve as a foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make.

One advantage in keeping a diary is that you become aware with reassuring clarity of the changes which you constantly suffer.

Only the really plain people know about love – the very fascinating ones try so hard to create an impression that they soon exhaust their talents.