The reason that I’m here at all is because of my relationship with my family and their encouragement of me to be a musician and to work hard. As long as I stay there in that space, I can do anything. That’s my truth.

Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.

I think that there is never an indispensable leader, you know? I think that there is a time with dignity that one needs to leave.

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.

Work harder on yourself than you do on your job.

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

I don’t know what can be so dangerous about giving people hope. Causing people to have better relationships. I’m not leading them to some false God or something like that.

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.

I’d like to think you don’t stop being creative once you get happy. My ultimate goal is to end up being happy. Most of the time.

Since God had commanded it, it was necessary that I do it. Since God commanded it, even if I had a hundred fathers and mothers, even if I had been a King’s daughter, I would have gone nevertheless.

Overall there’s going to be things I’m not great at.

There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.

All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.

If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.

You must take the compromise to win, or else nothing. That means: you race or you do not.

Always kiss your children goodnight, even if they’re already asleep.

I love my daddy. My daddy’s everything. I hope I can find a man that will treat me as good as my dad.

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

To excel at the highest level – or any level, really – you need to believe in yourself, and hands down, one of the biggest contributors to my self-confidence has been private coaching.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal.

We are never defeated unless we give up on God.

I mean… in life… what relationship is easy?

Do I have chocolate chip cookies? Yes, I do. Do I have mint chocolate chip milkshakes? Yes, I do. I love them. They are fantastic. But when I have them, they’re worth it. I earned them. I did something. I worked out super hard. I stayed clean on food.

Take time to gather up the past so that you will be able to draw from your experience and invest them in the future.

Doing Saturday Night Live definitely affects my relationship with my girlfriend and with my family, because you feel so much pressure to do well that night. But I think everyone’s grown to accept that and so they give me my space at the show.

When a man becomes a writer, I think he takes on a sacred obligation to produce beauty and enlightenment and comfort at top speed.

Women have always been the strong ones of the world. The men are always seeking from women a little pillow to put their heads down on. They are always longing for the mother who held them as infants.

I was in a terrible mess in my childhood.

I think about my own sons and my own daughters, and I’m sure that many parents are concerned about what their children are exposed to.

A hundred struggle and drown in the breakers. One discovers the new world. But rather, ten times rather, die in the surf, heralding the way to that new world, than stand idly on the shore.

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

I was married a few times, and one of my husbands was jealous of me writing.

I had this child, and it destroyed my family.

Live your life, do your work, then take your hat.

For a young person, it is almost a sin, or at least a danger, to be too preoccupied with himself; but for the ageing person, it is a duty and a necessity to devote serious attention to himself.

I have dreams, and I want to see them come to fruition.

To not be modest about it, you’ll find that with only a couple of exceptions, most of the musicians that I’ve worked with have done their best work by far with me.

I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul… we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.

I’d rather give my life than be afraid to give it.

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.

Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.

You have to be smart. The easy days are over.

I knew I was blessed with a gift of having both parents.

I made my fair share of mistakes.

You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred.

I never cut class. I loved getting A’s, I liked being smart. I liked being on time. I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world.

As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

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.

I had a really good childhood up until I was nine, then a classic case of divorce really affected me.

In the child, consciousness rises out of the depths of unconscious psychic life, at first like separate islands, which gradually unite to form a ‚continent,‘ a continuous landmass of consciousness. Progressive mental development means, in effect, extension of consciousness.

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.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

I do believe in self-help.

A goal is a dream with a deadline.

Just remember, you can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.

The important thing is that men should have a purpose in life. It should be something useful, something good.

Thoughts are fine when you don’t confuse them with who you are, and then thoughts are not a problem. Thinking is a wonderful tool to create things in this world. It only becomes problematic and a source of suffering when you confuse thinking with who you are.