You have to give others the opportunity to love who you love. If they don’t accept it, it’s their loss.

The power of our thoughts may never be measured or appreciated, but it became obvious to me as a young boy that there was value and power in being aware of my thoughts and how I expressed myself.

Do not try to live forever. You will not succeed.

Reading, solitude, idleness, a soft and sedentary life, intercourse with women and young people, these are perilous paths for a young man, and these lead him constantly into danger.

I know of only one duty, and that is to love.

For it is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together. Our friends seldom profit us but they make us feel safe. Marriage is a scheme to accomplish exactly that same end.

Disagreement is something normal.

There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.

Standing in support of children is something we should all be able to get behind, regardless of party affiliation.

My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will, never, never surrender to what is right.

Basically my wife was immature. I’d be at home in the bath and she’d come in and sink my boats.

I like some animals more than some people, some people more than some animals.

I believe that God breathed life into every person and that every person is made in the image of God and you have accept them as they are, on their journey. I’m not here to preach hate or push people down.

I remember straightening my hair because I wanted to be like everybody else, and now the fact that anybody would emulate what I do? It’s just funny.

I’m blessed to have such a tight-knit family that we can talk about anything. Whether we talk frequently or not, since we’re on separate ends of the country, there are a lot of moving parts, and we always stay tight and find that center ground that keeps us together.

I find that when I get on stage now, I don’t want to perform a lot of my songs because they don’t feel like me. So I want to make songs that are timeless.

My first job in all honesty is going to continue to be mom-in-chief. Making sure that in this transition, which will be even more of a transition for the girls… that they are settled and that they know they will continue to be the center of our universe.

Well look, I mean, I think that prayer and holy water, and things like that are all fine. They don’t do any good, but they don’t necessarily do any harm. It’s touching to be thought of in that way. It makes up for those who tell me that I’ve got my just desserts.

There are some hurts that we experience that can be forgiven but we won’t forget them.

Those Marriages generally abound most with Love and Constancy, that are preceded by a long Courtship.

Whatever is making you so angry, it’s time for you to give it to God and get over it.

Life’s too short to deal with other people’s insecurities.

Things that I felt absolutely sure of but a few years ago, I do not believe now. This thought makes me see more clearly how foolish it would be to expect all men to agree with me.

You can’t be in love with a Google search.

I think what you’re seeing is a profound recognition on the part of the American people that gays and lesbians and transgender persons are our brothers, our sisters, our children, our cousins, our friends, our co-workers, and that they’ve got to be treated like every other American. And I think that principle will win out.

I am at peace with God. My conflict is with Man.

Love grows by giving. The love we give away is the only love we keep. The only way to retain love is to give it away.

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.

Love and desire are the spirit’s wings to great deeds.

Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.

If you’re talking to a man who wouldn’t fight with you under any circumstances whatsoever, then you’re talking to someone for whom you have absolutely no respect.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.

What sweetness is left in life, if you take away friendship? Robbing life of friendship is like robbing the world of the sun. A true friend is more to be esteemed than kinsfolk.

Gays are some of the nicest, kindest, most loving people in the world.

Who hears me, who understands me, becomes mine, a possession for all time.

The love we give away is the only love we keep.

If you haven’t forgiven yourself something, how can you forgive others.

Love is the attempt to form a friendship inspired by beauty.

Lovers often invest their first meetings with retrospective significance, as if to try to conjure the elements of the numinous out of the stubborn witness of the everyday.

I’m not interested in people positioning me next to other artists.

There is in me an anarchy and frightful disorder. Creating makes me die a thousand deaths, because it means making order, and my entire being rebels against order. But without it I would die, scattered to the winds.

Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly, even if they roll a few stones upon it.

For the sake of peace and justice, let us move toward a world in which all people are at last free to determine their own destiny.

The key to winning is choosing to do God’s will and loving others with all you’ve got.

I am a bit of a solitude person – a solitary personality. I like being on my own. I don’t have any major friendships or relationships with people.

I’m more of an adventurous type than a relationship type.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence.

I like persons better than principles, and I like persons with no principles better than anything else in the world.

At the Carter Center we work with victims of oppression, and we give support to human rights heroes.

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.

When your mother asks, ‚Do you want a piece of advice?‘ it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.

To be frank, it sometimes seems that the American idea of freedom has more to do with my freedom to do what I want than your freedom to do what you want. I think that, in Europe, we’re probably better at understanding how to balance those competing claims, though not a lot.

As a father and now a grandfather to three wonderful grandchildren, I know how magical the first year of a child’s life is but also how much hard work it takes. Being able to spend as much time as possible with your loved ones is absolutely vital, especially early on.

Many people when they fall in love look for a little haven of refuge from the world, where they can be sure of being admired when they are not admirable, and praised when they are not praiseworthy.

My mom and I have always been there for each other. We had some tough times, but she was always there for me.

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.

Everybody has a creative potential and from the moment you can express this creative potential, you can start changing the world.

I know I got it made while the masses of black people are catchin‘ hell, but as long as they ain’t free, I ain’t free.

There isn’t any formula or method. You learn to love by loving – by paying attention and doing what one thereby discovers has to be done.

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.

To every soul that knows how to pray, to every soul that by faith comes to Jesus, the true mercy seat, divine sovereignty wears no dark and terrible aspect but is full of love.