“Criticism does not make you smarter or better than the one you are criticizing. In fact, the stuff you are critical of in others is the same stuff you don’t like about yourself.”

Everything you have done and been through is valuable and important. In order to be who you are, to know what you know, to be where you are in this moment, you needed to go through what you went through.

Education does not take place when you learn something you did not know before. Education is your ability to use what you have learned to be better today than you were yesterday.

Most of us know exactly what it is that creates the pain, confusion, stagnation and disruption in our lives. When we find something or someone creating in our lives that which we do not want, we must muster the courage and strength to stop it.

Love people enough to tell them the truth and respect them enough to trust that they can handle it.

Be patient when it seems things are not going right and may never be right again. Accept that what is yours will come to you in the right way at just the right moment.

Fear wears so many clever disguises it is virtually impossible to always recognize it. Fear disguises itself as the need to be somewhere else, doing something else, not knowing how to do something or not needing to do something.

Speak and live in simple sentences. Bring closure- put a period to- those experiences that you don’t want to carry on forever and ever. Use commas in those places where you’re still growing and use exclamation points at the end of every lesson.

If you don’t ask for what you need, the need will keep getting bigger.

People may not like what you do, people may not like how you do it, but these people are not living your life. You are!

When you continue to give without receiving, the only thing you are proving is that you know how to be taken advantage of.

Have the courage to be exactly who you are without apology. Admit your mistakes without beating yourself up. Release all shame! Release all guilt! You cannot live if you are hiding behind what was. Focus on what is, right now, and that is you!

Everything happens when it needs to happen; everyone is always where they need to be. You will never miss out on what is meant for you, even if it has to come to you in a roundabout way.

You will stumble at time, forget what you want, fall headfirst into your old habits and beliefs. Fear not! Always remember to be patient and loving with yourself and others because that is what God does all the time.

Life doesn’t actually knock you down. It does, however, provide you with many opportunities to evaluate your standing in life: what you stand on, what you stand for, how you stand within yourself and for yourself.

It’s important that we share our experiences with other people. Your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else. When you tell your story, you free yourself and give other people permission to acknowledge their own story.

You do not have to love what is going on in your life, but you must accept that it, whatever it is, is going on. As long as you do not accept reality, you are powerless to define the role you will play.

My big brother still thinks he’s a better singer than me.

Whatever Nature has in store for mankind, unpleasant as it may be, men must accept, for ignorance is never better than knowledge.

When two close kindred meet, What better than call a dance?

It’s better to be silent than to be a fool.

My songs always sound a lot better in person than they do on the record.

I have no desire to write my own biography, as long as I have strength and means to do better work.

The start to a better world is the belief that it is possible.

I’m not one of those people that goes into details of my personal life on national TV to get attention. Some things are better left unsaid.