I’ve watched a lot of people who became famous who completely change and I think it’s because they tend to believe all the hype that’s out there. I don’t think there’s that much hype about me.

Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved.

When I was making the early stuff, I never expected it to be so big. I was in my own kind of bubble. I never wanted to tour; I just wanted to create music and make a diary I could put out into the world. And sometimes, I became the characters.

My experience has been that work is almost the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.

I’m an emotional person. Sometimes I can’t help it.

I feel matured in a way that I’m happy about. I’m at this other stage in my life – and it’s not a bad thing at all.

I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.

I was a kind of hyper-intense person in my twenties and very impatient.

Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them.

Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.

I’m the most stubborn person I know.

Do not give in too much to feelings. A overly sensitive heart is an unhappy possession on this shaky earth.

Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?

Measure your wealth by what you’d have left if you lost all your money.

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.

And God help Bruce Springsteen when they decide he’s no longer God… They’ll turn on him, and I hope he survives it.

I always was that person who was hard on myself and challenged myself no matter what I was doing, whether it was passing third grade or playing basketball.

There are definitely people who disagree with certain creative decisions you make. Pleasing everyone is pretty hard.

I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about dying, but I like to think that I’ve – if it did occur – that I would die peacefully and not make too much of a fuss about it.

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!

Everyone has at least one story, and each of us is funny if we admit it. You have to admit you’re the funniest person you’ve ever heard of.

We are here and it is now. Further than that, all human knowledge is moonshine.

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.

The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.

The idea is to try to give all the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.

Sexuality is one of the ways that we become enlightened, actually, because it leads us to self-knowledge.

The man never feels the want of what it never occurs to him to ask for.

We should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity have I mastered today? what passions opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift.

Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.

No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.

Remember happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think.

Say not, ‚I have found the truth,‘ but rather, ‚I have found a truth.‘

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

Nobody enjoys the ‚little show about nothing‘ humor more than me, but that is never the way I look at it.

If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.

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

Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.

When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.

I made a decision when my father passed away that I was going to be who God made me to be and not try to preach like my father.

There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.

You can’t put your feet on the ground until you’ve touched the sky.

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!

In a certain sense the Good is comfortless.

The human bird shall take his first flight, filling the world with amazement, all writings with his fame, and bringing eternal glory to the nest whence he sprang.

I don’t look at a man who’s expert in one area as a specialist. I look at him as a rookie in ten other areas.

Over the years I’ve learned how to lock myself up in a prison of hope, knowing that God has nothing but His best planned for me. He promised me things concerning my ministry and my life.

You gotta keep trying to find your niche and trying to fit into whatever slot that’s left for you or to make one of your own.

The truth is, somebody is always talking about you, so you have to let it go… if it’s not a part of your God-given destiny.

I do suffer from depression, I suppose. Which isn’t that unusual. You know, a lot of people do.

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.

There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad.

Little girls are cute and small only to adults. To one another they are not cute. They are life-sized.

My weaknesses have always been food and men – in that order.

If a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.

There’s only one effectively redemptive sacrifice, the sacrifice of self-will to make room for the knowledge of God.

I wouldn’t say that anyone in fashion is on my side. I don’t think there’s anyone on my side.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

I would rather make my name than inherit it.

As you get older, the questions come down to about two or three. How long? And what do I do with the time I’ve got left?