My experiences in life are getting bigger and better. The more stuff I do, the more stuff I talk about – having kids, traveling, going through relationship problems, dealing with things in my own family. All that stuff builds character.

There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

It’s like a jar of salad dressing sitting on a shelf… most of the seasoning settles to the bottom of the bottle. But when you shake that bottle up, all the ingredients mix together and then the dressing can add flavor to a salad. In the same way, we can stir ourselves up and regain the reverence, respect and awe we once had for the Lord.

Crankiness is at the essence of all comedy. My wife and I were discussing the different types of cranky. There’s entertaining cranky, annoying cranky, angry cranky.

If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it.

The world we see that seems so insane is the result of a belief system that is not working. To perceive the world differently, we must be willing to change our belief system, let the past slip away, expand our sense of now, and dissolve the fear in our minds.

I’m like a recovering perfectionist. For me it’s one day at a time.

Even though I was very shy, I found I could get onstage if I had a new identity.

The training of children is a profession, where we must know how to waste time in order to save it.

Autobiographies are only useful as the lives you read about and analyze may suggest to you something that you may find useful in your own journey through life.

Peace in the world starts with peace in oneself. If everyone lives mindfully, everyone will be more healthy, feel more fulfilled in their daily lives and there will be more peace.

I like to recede away from classifications. You might say that indicates a fundamental lack of commitment. I suppose that’s true to some degree.

Thirty-three-years-old, still creating art. It’s rage, it’s creativity, it’s pain, it’s hurt, but it’s the opportunity to still have my voice get out there through music.

I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be.

The family is the test of freedom; because the family is the only thing that the free man makes for himself and by himself.

If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.

Trust is not the same as faith. A friend is someone you trust. Putting faith in anyone is a mistake.

When I was into my 30s, I became increasingly depressed by rejection letters. I had had the feeling that by the time I was 30, I would be established. But I was not at all. By the time of ‚Lives of Girls and Women,‘ I was into my 40s and I had become more thin-skinned.

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.

I think so many people live their whole life in fear and doubt and shame.

My goal is to entertain myself and others.

He didn’t come out of my belly, but my God, I’ve made his bones, because I’ve attended to every meal, and how he sleeps, and the fact that he swims like a fish because I took him to the ocean. I’m so proud of all those things. But he is my biggest pride.

You can never really live anyone else’s life, not even your child’s. The influence you exert is through your own life, and what you’ve become yourself.

Transforming yourself into a deep listener will not only prove more amusing as you open your mind to their mind, but you will gain the most invaluable lessons about human psychology.

The royal road to a man’s heart is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.

We’re African-American and we work together as a family, so people assume we’re like the Jacksons. But I didn’t have parents using me to get out of a bad situation.

Different taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.

Before marriage, a girl has to make love to a man to hold him. After marriage, she has to hold him to make love to him.

The fact is I am not having sex. But I feel absolutely ripe for the, what would you say? plucking?

Man will do many things to get himself loved, he will do all things to get himself envied.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

Any hand that I’ve shaken, any person that I met when I was Joe Blow, now that I’m this guy Kevin Hart, has come back. That’s why I treat everybody with respect. I’m always a nice pleasant guy to meet because when they come back to you, they remember.

I’ve grown accustomed to hotels and drastic climate change.

Women love us for our defects. If we have enough of them, they will forgive us everything, even our gigantic intellects.

A person who is truly authentic doesn’t need to play a role in life, we think, but can simply be him – or herself.

Intimates are predestined.

Who’s my hero? That’s a great question… Well, I think my dad is my hero, because he’s someone I look up to every day.

I don’t know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.

I don’t like to read things that people write about me. I’d rather read what kids have to say about me because it’s not their profession to do that.

My mother was a full-time mother. She didn’t have much of her own career, her own life, her own experiences… everything was for her children. I will never be as good a mother as she was. She was just grace incarnate. She was the most generous, loving – she’s better than me.

I continue to care for President Obama and for his family. I think that in many ways they are very courageous people, and I honor that, because I know what it means to live as a black person in a racist America.

Growing old has been the greatest surprise of my life.

Rejoicing in our joy, not suffering over our suffering, makes someone a friend.

Your true traveller finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty – his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.

Men exist for the sake of one another.

I disagree with everything I used to say.

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.

When you cease to exist, then who will you blame?

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

When I was old enough to change my name, I changed it to Mr. T so that the first word out of someone’s mouth was ‚Mister,‘ a sign of respect.

First and foremost, we need to be the adults we want our children to be. We should watch our own gossiping and anger. We should model the kindness we want to see.

I remember, when I was a young guy in the SEAL teams, I was very afraid of making mistakes and looking stupid or doing dumb things and getting a bad reputation.

We have all had the experience of finding that our reactions and perhaps even our deeds have denied beliefs we thought were ours.

Tomorrow morning before we depart, I intend to land and see what can be found in the neighborhood.

The CIA is made up of boys whose families sent them to Princeton but wouldn’t let them into the family brokerage business.

A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don’t have a top for it.

Sometimes if you got a problem deep rooted in your life, it takes a little bit of time to overcome it in that area.

I’m very secure about my talents and about who I am.