You should do what other people do, unless you have a very good reason not to.

When a hundred men stand together, each of them loses his mind and gets another one.

I always wanted to do things right and represent myself as somebody that took the art serious and someone that took the business serious also, so I had time to weigh the options and figure it out and do my best to create the situation that was ideal.

People who truly understand what is meant by self-reliance know they must live their lives by ethics rather than rules.

I don’t write policy for my government.

A people free to choose will always choose peace.

The biggest mistake we made as a company was betting too much on HTML5.

I’m working on my life story. I’m not decided if it’s going to be a musical or a movie with music in it.

I’m not really good at fun-to-know, human interest stuff. We’re not ‚celebrities‘, whose life itself is a performance. Good or bad or ugly, we are our words. They’re what people meet.

Honestly, I could care less about other people’s opinions about me.

I can never say ‚why‘ about anything I do. I suppose I can say ‚how‘ and ‚when‘ and ‚what.‘ But ‚why‘ is impenetrable to me.

The philosophical idea that there are no more distances, that we are all just one world, that we are all brothers, is such a drag! I like differences.

Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.

Everybody always laughs because I feel so much more comfortable with, like, a giant paper bag on my whole body and paint on my face. Sometimes I try really hard to take it all off. But inevitably what’s underneath is still not a straight edge. And I don’t think it ever will be.

Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey ‚people.‘ People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war… Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.

Ultimately this issue is on us. We’re the ones who make the decisions about what our kids eat.

When I was running training, we would fire a couple of leaders from every SEAL team because they couldn’t lead. And 99.9% of the time, it wasn’t a question of their ability – it was a question of their ability to listen.

I suppose that’s one of the ironies of life doing the wrong thing at the right moment.

No country can act wisely simultaneously in every part of the globe at every moment of time.

It is only a man’s own fundamental thoughts that have truth and life in them. For it is these that he really and completely understands. To read the thoughts of others is like taking the remains of someone else’s meal, like putting on the discarded clothes of a stranger.

We misjudge risk if we feel we have some control over it, even if it’s an illusory sense of control.

We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting.

Arguments are extremely vulgar, for everyone in good society holds exactly the same opinion.

If an idea isn’t exciting, you shouldn’t do it.

I try to see the good in everybody, and I don’t care who people are as long as they’re themselves, whatever that is.

Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for the good.

People like me were supposed to be into exclusivity, unapproachable. That’s what I hate most. I think it’s very demode.

I had therefore to remove knowledge, in order to make room for belief.

Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don’t find out til too late that he’s been playing with two queens all along.

In my research, I’ve interviewed a lot of people who never fit in, who are what you might call ‚different‘: scientists, artists, thinkers. And if you drop down deep into their work and who they are, there is a tremendous amount of self-acceptance.

Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.

Having unlimited choices can paralyze you creatively.

High office teaches decision making, not substance. It consumes intellectual capital; it does not create it. Most high officials leave office with the perceptions and insights with which they entered; they learn how to make decisions but not what decisions to make.

If you judge, investigate.

Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.

I think that a president needs to have a variety of views presented. But also, there has to be a team effort, because otherwise, I think it creates a dissonance and difficulty.

It’s normal for human beings to identify with their own separate self. The problem is that we get caught in that notion of ourself as a separate individual and caught in that individual self’s agenda.

I believe in believing. My coach John Kavanagh is a big atheist, and he is always trying to persuade people to his way of thinking, and I think, ‚What a waste of energy.‘ If people want to believe in this god or that god, that’s fine by me; believe away. But I think we can be our own gods. I believe in myself.

At one point he decided enough was enough.

Everyone has their style and your style explains a lot about who you are – you feel me? I’ve had style since childhood, so I like to dress how I feel. But maybe I get carried away by some trends.

Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong – these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.

In politics… never retreat, never retract… never admit a mistake.

A musician should only sound like what they do, and no two musicians sound the same. It’s an individual-feel thing, you know?

The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.

I always have a basic plot outline, but I like to leave some things to be decided while I write.

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

Growing up, I decided, a long time ago, I wouldn’t accept any manmade differences between human beings, differences made at somebody else’s insistence or someone else’s whim or convenience.

I don’t really plan. I’m almost intuitive about things.

Where the senses fail us, reason must step in.

Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it.

Every man should know, if you’re comfortable and you like it, you should do it. Everyone always worries about what the girls think, what the guys think. If you like it, do it.

It’s very strange to go to cities like London and New York. People walk so quickly, they seem to be in a hurry all the time. And you don’t say ‚Hi‘ to everyone you meet, and you don’t smile to everyone you meet, because there’s just so many. Which is also very strange.

Every President wants to do right.

The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.

I am not happy, and the quest for happiness as a principal objective is not part of my world. Of course, ever since I can remember, I have done what I felt like doing.

When you’re in a leadership role, you can never please all of the people all of the time. There’s also a lot of responsibility that goes along with it that others may not realize.

It’s vulgar, coming from where I do, to talk about money.

The only thing I know is I ain’t changing my brand. I know what I believe. I’m confident in what I know. And I’m gonna say it. And if folks like it, wonderful. If they don’t like it, I understand.

My own eight children all march to the beat of their inner music, and in some cases, it is definitely far away from what I hear. I’ve had to honor their instincts and their choices, and merely guided them out of harm’s way until they could be their own guides.

While children are struggling to be unique, the world around them is trying all means to make them look like everybody else.