Years ago I met Richard Burton in Port Talbot, my home town, and afterwards he passed in his car with his wife, and I thought, ‚I want to get out and become like him‘. Not because of Wales, because I love Wales, but because I was so limited as a child at school and so bereft and lonely, and I thought becoming an actor would do that.

My life as a child did not prepare me for the fact that the world is full of cruel and bitter things.

Love is the answer, and you know that for sure; Love is a flower, you’ve got to let it grow.

There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.

What by a straight path cannot be reached by crooked ways is never won.

There’s hope for everyone. That’s what makes the world go round.

Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms.

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

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

I just enjoy it, I am living a life that I never even dreamt of.

Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.

Never complain and never explain.

Act well your part, there all the honour lies.

I’m just going to say it: I’m pro-guilt. Guilt is good. Guilt helps us stay on track because it’s about our behavior. It occurs when we compare something we’ve done – or failed to do – with our personal values.

If you dream the proper dreams, and share the myths with people, they will want to grow up to be like you.

Dignify and glorify common labor. It is at the bottom of life that we must begin, not at the top.

We shall draw from the heart of suffering itself the means of inspiration and survival.

You must do the things you think you cannot do.

When I was a child I asked my mother what homosexuality was about and she said – and this was 100 years ago in Germany and she was very open-minded – ‚It’s like hair color. It’s nothing. Some people are blond and some people have dark hair. It’s not a subject.‘ This was a very healthy attitude.

I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God’s help I shall succeed.

I’ve never been to New Zealand before. But one of my role models, Xena, the warrior princess, comes from there.

My favorite affirmation when I feel stuck or out of sorts is: Whatever I need is already here, and it is all for my highest good. Jot this down and post it conspicuously throughout your home, on the dashboard of your car, at your office, on your microwave oven, and even in front of your toilets!

Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.

I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.

I’ve had quite a lot of luck with dreams. I’ve often awoken in the night with a phrase or even a whole song in my head.

Bill Gates has always been a mentor and inspiration for me even before I knew him. Just growing up, I admired how Microsoft was mission-focused.

Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.

Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

I knew I wasn’t going to be a rocket scientist – let’s not be fools – but I wasn’t going to be a bum.

I see myself as the best footballer in the world. If you don’t believe you are the best, then you will never achieve all that you are capable of.

It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.

I was always trying – I never wanted to let my fans down; I always wanted them to see me in my art form.

You have to dream before your dreams can come true.

And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss.

If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun.

My success isn’t a result of arrogance – it’s a result of belief.

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.

Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works.

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.

Practically everybody in New York has half a mind to write a book, and does.

It is our duty as men and women to proceed as though the limits of our abilities do not exist.

There’s no one way to be creative. Any old way will work.

God wants you to be a winner, not a whiner.

I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.

You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.

What? You seek something? You wish to multiply yourself tenfold, a hundredfold? You seek followers? Seek zeros!

I remember being in Japan when Destiny’s Child put out ‚Independent Women,‘ and women there were saying how proud they were to have their own jobs, their own independent thinking, their own goals. It made me feel so good, and I realized that one of my responsibilities was to inspire women in a deeper way.

The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.

Young people can create beautiful things.

Practice yourself, for heaven’s sake in little things, and then proceed to greater.

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them.

The greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.

Love is easy, and I love writing. You can’t resist love. You get an idea, someone says something, and you’re in love.

I don’t get up, get dressed, go out, and think, ‚Okay, I gotta find eight jokes.‘

Well, everyone likes movies when they’re a little kid.

When people are around us, they should leave better off than they were previously. Rather than feeling discouraged or defeated, people should feel challenged and inspired after spending any time with you and me.

In any profession it gets to be a grind.

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.

The world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome, dubious eggs, called possibilities.