When I was young, I could not imagine being old. My mother said, and the doctor confirmed, that I had an unusual amount of energy; and it followed me into young adulthood.

I had a lovers quarrel with the world.

Truthfully, without over-egging it, as I often do, the library and journalism, those things made me who I am.

You may think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me like a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I could scarcely credit that I, the poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day; that by honest work, I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that time.

A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.

I always tell young girls, surround yourself with goodness. I learned early on how to get the haters out of my life.

Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.

The older I get, the more important the eternal becomes to me personally.

The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!

Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.

Listening to and understanding our inner sufferings will resolve most of the problems we encounter.

I used to feel unsafe right in the moment of an accomplishment – I felt the ground fall from under my feet because this could be the end. And even now, while everyone is celebrating, I’m on to the next thing. I don’t want to get lost in this big cushion of success.

My own dreams fortunately came true in this great state. I became Mr. Universe; I became a successful businessman. And even though some people say I still speak with a slight accent, I have reached the top of the acting profession.

One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them.

Observe all men, thyself most.

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.

My philosophy is it’s none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am, and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.

It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.

It’s more interesting for me to figure out how to be superior in areas where I’m naive, where I’m a novice.

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

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

You can bear your own faults, and why not a fault in your wife?

I’m still living at least five parallel lives, honestly! I wonder about it. I have no idea how that happens.

Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking them.

I was lousy in school. Real screwed-up. A moron. I was antisocial and didn’t bother with the other kids. A really bad student. I didn’t have any brains. I didn’t know what I was doing there. That’s why I became an actor.

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

You cannot see the changes that you’re dreaming about, because they’re internal.

My grandfather lived to be late 90s on one side and on the other side, 70s or something. And my father died young, at 63. But he didn’t take very good care of himself.

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.

Your life is like a play with several acts. Some of the characters who enter have short roles to play, others, much larger. Some are villains and others are good guys. But all of them are necessary; otherwise, they wouldn’t be in the play. Embrace them all, and move on to the next act.

The giving of love is an education in itself.

Brad was a huge surprise to me. I think we were both the last two people who were looking for a relationship. I certainly wasn’t. I was quite content to be a single mom with Mad.

An identity would seem to be arrived at by the way in which the person faces and uses his experience.

Help others and give something back. I guarantee you will discover that while public service improves the lives and the world around you, its greatest reward is the enrichment and new meaning it will bring your own life.

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride.

Then not only an old man, but also a drunkard, becomes a second time a child.

We’re all insecure, aren’t we? I’m not walking around like I’m macho man or anything.

I never do anything that I don’t want to do.

I’ve been running a full marathon every year for more than 20 years, and my record is getting worse. Getting older, getting worse. It’s natural.

Life cannot be without relationship, but we have made it so agonizing and hideous by basing it on personal and possessive love. Can one love and yet not possess? You will find the true answer not in escape, ideals, beliefs but through the understanding of the causes of dependence and possessiveness.

I always say this about my music, and music in general: Music is like a time capsule. Each album reflects what I’m going through or what’s going on in my life at that moment.

The people of Northern Ireland have sorted out my whole life.

Nothing I can say or devise, and nothing anybody else can say or devise, is going to be perfect.

The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.

The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioned our characters in the wrong way.

As far as men go, it is not what they are that interests me, but what they can become.

No one has ever learned fully to know themselves.

First and foremost, we need to be the adults we want our children to be. We should watch our own gossiping and anger. We should model the kindness we want to see.

You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.

I’m an introvert somewhat. There could be a room full of people, I’ll go stand in the corner.

The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.

Don’t get old, if you can avoid it.

I’ve made my share of mistakes along the way, but if I have changed even one life for the better, I haven’t lived in vain.

I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart.

Hair is about when you’re younger. I am my hair.

I am a child but I have to think and act like a woman, this business forces you to.

A warrior is not a person that carries a gun. The biggest war you ever go through is right between your own ears. It’s in your mind. We’re all going through a war in our mind, and we have to callus our mind to fight that war and to win that war.

I’ve had a few semi-toxic relationships, but it’s not what I look for when I’m seeing someone.