I want my life to have had more value than just acquiring stuff and living comfortably. I may die rich, or I may die broke. But I won't die with my music still in me.

Hard work is painful when life is devoid of purpose. But when you live for something greater than yourself and the gratification of your own ego, then hard work becomes a labor of love.

If you don’t take the time to get really clear about exactly what it is you’re trying to accomplish, then you’re forever doomed to spend your life achieving the goals of those who do.

When you live for a strong purpose, then hard work isn't an option. It's a necessity.

Fear is not your enemy. It is a compass pointing you to the areas where you need to grow.

Thoughts are like seeds. If you want different results in life, you have to figure out which thoughts are capable of growing those results and which aren’t.

If someone offers you a gift, and you decline to accept it, the other person still owns that gift. The same is true of insults and verbal attacks.

The most intelligent thing you can possibly do with your life is to grow.

Passion and purpose go hand in hand. When you discover your purpose, you will normally find it's something you're tremendously passionate about.

When you reach the point of becoming independent of external events, you’re truly free.

If you want to achieve some really big and interesting goals, you have to learn to fall in love with hard work.

You can plan on a change in the weather and time, but I never planned on you changing you mind.

When we accept ourselves as we are, we aren't "settling" or "keeping the problem in place." We're showing love and compassion for ourselves-for our feelings, our situation, and our history.

Hong Kong is a wonderful, mixed-up town where you've got great food and adventure. First and foremost, it's a great place to experience China in a relatively accessible way.

Writers aren't born, they're made - from practice, reading, and a lot of caffeine.

Bad reviews I've gotten never diminished the number of people in my audience; good reviews have never added to the number of people in my audience; be your own critic.

Never stop challenging yourself! Never loose enthusiasm!

God didn't give me the ability to play the piano, or paint a picture or have compassion. But... he did give me the ability to crack a walnut with my hoo-ha.

If you're unable to catch it in time, the cancer can spread to the lymph nodes and at that point, the cancer is essentially incurable, but that doesn't mean your condition can't be improved.

Get in touch with yourself. The fountain of creativity begins with the stream of conscious thought flowing inside you. Open the floodgate and creative ideas come rushing out.

Every young writer, I imagine, has their first intellectual magazine, whose essays and articles are devoured all the more greedily for being slightly over one's head. Mine was First Things.