You’ll never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him.

I think what’s important is for us to decipher what is honest and what is dishonest and be accepting of those things and not operating from fear.

Yeah, I was a delinquent. It was when I was in the ninth grade. I was doing stupid stuff, and the cops came into the class. I was humiliated more than anything.

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened by anyone’s perception of me.

In past generations, people would try to play younger than they really are. My trick is, I don’t try to play younger than I really am.

I don’t have to be what you want me to be.

Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself.

Because I am a mother, I am capable of being shocked: as I never was when I was not one.

Be not a slave of words.

We all have possibilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.

I hate to be smart.

Most of us have far more courage than we ever dreamed we possessed.

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me.

Many people think of perfectionism as striving to be your best, but it is not about self-improvement; it’s about earning approval and acceptance.

We rarely confide in those who are better than we are.

There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.

I intend to inspire people with my story: motivate young people that grew up like myself, or even not like myself. Just, you know, go through the human experience.

If a man had more than one life, I think a little hanging would not hurt this one; but after he is once dead, we cannot bring him back, no matter how sorry we may be; so the boy shall be pardoned.

I admire people who destroy themselves.

I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.

You have to develop ways so that you can take up for yourself, and then you take up for someone else. And so sooner or later, you have enough courage to really stand up for the human race and say, ‚I’m a representative.‘

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so.

It didn’t even occur to me that I’m the last person in the world who should play salsa or Brazilian music.

Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.

The highest reward that God gives us for good work is the ability to do better work.

Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome.

Sometimes I’ve called writing a disease. If so, I’m glad that it caught me.

There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.

Everyone has been in love, at some point or another.

First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress.

Never marry someone in hope that they’ll change later.

Every year during their High Holy Days, the Jewish community reminds us all of our need for repentance and forgiveness.

If you’ve lost your spirit, even living in the richest country in the world can’t help you become rich.

Don’t get older just to get wiser. If you get older, you will be wiser, I believe that – if you dare. But get older because it’s fun!

I’ll never, ever be full. I’ll always be hungry. Obviously, I’m not talking about food. Growing up, I had nothing for such a long time. Someone told me a long time ago, and I’ve never forgotten it, ‚Once you’ve ever been hungry, really, really hungry, then you’ll never, ever be full.‘

The thing I always say to people is this: ‚If you avoid failure, you also avoid success.‘

So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they’re gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.

‚Trilogy‘ was more of a claustrophobic body of work. Before it was released, I hadn’t left my city for 21 years, and I had never been on a plane, not once. I spent my entire life on one setting; that’s probably why pieces of the album feel like one long track, because that’s what my life felt like. It felt like one long song.

I’m working at trying to be a Christian, and that’s serious business. It’s like trying to be a good Jew, a good Muslim, a good Buddhist, a good Shintoist, a good Zoroastrian, a good friend, a good lover, a good mother, a good buddy – it’s serious business.

My freshman and sophomore years in high school, I spent a lot of time trying to get back on the right track. I was arrested multiple times by the time I was 16, so I had a little harder time trying to adjust like a lot of us do in high school.

At the end of the day, I understand that life has road blocks, and life is like school – you’ll be tested; we gotta pass it.

I am getting to the point where the only love worth being in is the love worth singing about.

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

I think that people just have this core desire to express who they are. And I think that’s always existed.

Imagine your family finally making it from nothing to something, and finally getting things going, and finally buying a beautiful house and taking care of your children – and the next day, it’s completely all gone. Zero. Boom. Flat broke. So that’s when I had to man up.

If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it.

It is a fact that cannot be denied: the wickedness of others becomes our own wickedness because it kindles something evil in our own hearts.

Keeping score is for games, not friendships.

I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else – God is in this person’s life. You can – you must – try to seek God in every human life.

‚Perfection‘ to me is, I walk away from a situation and say, ‚I did everything I could do right there. There was nothing more that I could do.‘ I was a hundred percent, like the meter was at the top. There was nothing else I could have done. You know? Like, I worked as hard as I possibly could have. That’s perfection.

If I went back to my 20-year-old self, what I would tell my 20-year-old self is, ‚You don’t know anything.‘ Because everyone, when they’re young, they think they know what’s going on in the world, and you don’t.

Jesus paid a tremendous price for us so we could have abundant life. He willingly took all of our sin on Himself and gave His life on the cross so we could be forgiven and have new life in Him.

He who angers you conquers you.

In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.

I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It’s a way of life for me.

I learned to fly a few years ago in England. It’s the only place I’m completely alone – up in the air, detached from everything.

I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside.

The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.

It is always your next move.

Men take only their needs into consideration – never their abilities.

I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that’s not easy.