Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed… Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

I don’t have many sad days.

Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.

Let it be our delight to find our society in the circle of which Jesus is the center, and let us make those our friends who are the friends of Jesus.

First and last, what is demanded of genius is love of truth.

Poetry is the art of substantiating shadows, and of lending existence to nothing.

There’s been some research in cognitive science, I’m told, that discloses that there have always been perhaps 10 to 15 percent of people who are, as Pascal puts it, so made that they cannot believe. To us, when people talk about faith, it’s white noise.

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

You can’t think; you just gotta do things.

What’s dangerous is not to evolve.

People who don’t know the true character of God – who don’t believe He is merciful, gracious and slow to anger – can never have a close, personal, intimate relationship with Him.

I owe everything to Nirvana. But I can’t let that overshadow the future. For the first few years, I didn’t even want to talk about Nirvana. Partly because it was just painful to talk about losing Kurt but also because I wanted the Foo Fighters to mean something.

Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.

Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action.

Someone told me something that stuck with me: ‚You have to envision your life, and then go backwards.‘ I’ve been living by that motto for a while, so I see where I need to be. Now I’m just backtracking and trying to get back up there.

We don’t want to wait on someone to hire us and give us a check. We want to create our own opportunities.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

I’ve got my Grammys on top of my piano and I look at them when I play.

I can’t ever remember sitting around and saying, ‚gosh let’s hurry up and get these debates going, that’ll win it for me.‘ Nope.

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.

No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration.

You always want your people to be proud of what you have accomplished.

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

I don’t write the books. God writes the books and delivers the speeches.

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.

Not one person can make or break what I’m doing, except me or God.

When I wake up, I expect things to be good. If they’re not, then I try to set about trying to make them as good as I can ‚cause I know I’m gonna have to live that day anyway. So why not try to make the most of it if you can? Some days, they pan out a little better than others, but you still gotta always just try.

We must open the doors of opportunity. But we must also equip our people to walk through those doors.

Fear of death makes us devoid both of valour and religion. For want of valour is want of religious faith.

I am not going to Heaven because I have preached to great crowds or read the Bible many times. I’m going to Heaven just like the thief on the cross who said in that last moment: ‚Lord, remember me.‘

There is one thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, and that is discipline. Because your dreams and your goals are not there waking up for you in the morning.

When you hear people making hateful comments, stand up to them. Point out what a waste it is to hate, and you could open their eyes.

There are half a dozen subjects that I return to time and time again, and that doesn’t bother me. Because most of my favorite writers do that, to hunt down the same topic or theme from different directions each time.

Even as you make progress, you need the discipline to keep from backtracking and sabotaging the success as it’s happening.

Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.

There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.

Knowing that the time to sleep has come, the Lord sleeps, and does well in sleeping. Often, when we have been fretting and worrying, we should have glorified God far more had we literally gone to sleep.

Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed, and delivering justice to the violent, they are making America more secure.

The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.

I never wanted to stay in one genre; I never wanted to be pigeon-holed or defined as the actor who only worked in one genre. I want to be able to work in all different genres. For me it’s fun, and that’s how I grow as an actor.

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

The problem with writing a book in verse is, to be successful, it has to sound like you knocked it off on a rainy Friday afternoon. It has to sound easy. When you can do it, it helps tremendously because it’s a thing that forces kids to read on. You have this unconsummated feeling if you stop.

We are not retreating – we are advancing in another direction.

The poets are only the interpreters of the gods.

America is the land of the second chance – and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.

People are looking for something a little more stable; people are feeling like they need to get closer to God.

Religion is the opium of the masses.

There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person.

All I know is that, thanks to a sort of habit which has always been ingrained in me, I have never, at any moment of my life, experienced the least difficulty in addressing myself to God as to a supreme Someone.

Sure I believe in God and the Devil, but they don’t have to have pitchforks and a long white beard.

If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.

Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.

When I have a terrible need of – shall I say the word – religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.

There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope.

You are the sum total of everything you’ve ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot – it’s all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive.

There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.

You’re not better than anybody else, but you’re not less than anybody else. You’re a child of the Most High God.

I have promised myself that I’m going to do everything I can for as long as I can.

Ideas have a short shelf life. You must act on them before the expiration date.

I think that at the start of a game, you’re always playing to win, and then maybe if you’re ahead late in the game, you start playing not to lose. The true competitors, though, are the ones who always play to win.