Fear is almost always linked to an image you have of something terrible happening in the future. To develop courage, you have to give up this illusion of future certainty.

Higher forces must be experienced directly, and that takes effort. That means you'll face the same stark choice I did: demand proof that you'll never receive, or use the tools in the face of your doubts. When I stopped thinking and focused on the tools, my reward was life changing faith.

It’s a paradox; only when you desire fear, will you be able to take action in its presence—which is what courage consists of.

There’s a hidden, inner strength that you cannot find unless you push yourself through adversity.

“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too … raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”

The Comfort Zone is supposed to keep your life safe, but what it really does is keep your life small.

A few rare individuals refuse to live limited lives. They drive through tremendous amounts of pain—from rejections and failures to shorter moments of embarrassment and anxiety. They also handle the small, tedious pain required for personal discipline, forcing themselves to do things we all know we should do.

Most of us choose avoidance instead. As a result, we don’t live up to our potential, never becoming fully ourselves.

The more intense the pain—and the more aggressively you move into it—the more energy you’ll create.

In everyone there sleeps. A sense of life lived according to love. To some it means the difference they could make. By loving others, but across most it sweeps. As all they might have done had they been loved. That nothing cures.

I hated Peter O'Toole. I wanted to kill that guy! When they said he was dead, I was happy. People said, 'Poor Peter O'Toole.' I was happy!

We had enough chances to win the game. In fact we did win it.

I'm a grown man. You know, I've been in a lot of scrapes, but I never felt like I got so - there are probably a lot of things I should have done that I didn't do.

Write every day. You don't have to write about anything specific, but you should exercise your writing muscle constantly.

Decisions on a matter as serious as charging an individual with a crime cannot be decided on anything less than complete examination of all available evidence. Anything less is not justice.

We should be able to have a little more fun. I think it's entertainment to the fans.

Politics calls for robust debate and criticism, but this should never descend to personal and demeaning slurs.

I secretly wanted to act. I also wanted be a toy designer and make puppets.

I'm a very slow screenwriter. It takes time for me to write a screenplay. Also, I feel it's not my strength.

Normally, I just sit in my quiet little room and do the small things that bring me pleasures. I read my books, I answer email, I write a little bit.

Well, let me just say - I mean, I'm not a person who's going to vote for any of the potential Republican nominees for the presidency of the United States.

I don't compare myself to strangers.

It's very easy to say that men think about things more simply, but it kind of is true. And that's not actually a bad thing. Approaching things in a more logical, practical fashion. This is a massive generalisation, but women tend to think about things more first, then act afterwards.

One should indeed read Pope with his notes available, in the Twickenham edition possibly, to see what a vast amount he did understand about Homer.

If Britain is to have a stable, affordable pension system, people need to work longer, but we will reward their hard work with a decent state pension that will enable them to enjoy quality of life in their retirement.

I have a dog whose name is Banquo.

I'm not afraid of problem-solving. There is always a way.

In America, we're kind of lazy. But in New York, it's one of those places where you see the majority of people hustling. If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.

The problem is that we let special occasion food become everyday food. That goes for soda and french fries.

Deflation isn't good, and inflation is easier to cure than deflation.

I like to figure things out and solve problems.

Persuasion is often more effectual than force.

Suffering is a kind of ecstasy in a way. Having pain all the time makes me terribly, terribly grateful for every moment I've got.