“Humor was another of the soul’s weapons in the fight for self-preservation.”

Even when it is not fully attained, we become better by striving for a higher goal.

Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue.

You don’t create your mission in life – you detect it.

The point is not what we expect from life, but rather what life expects from us.

To suffer unecessarily is masochistic rather than heroic.

Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment.

Success, like happiness, is the unexpected side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself.

Being tolerant does not mean that I share another one’s belief. But it does mean that I acknowledge another one’s right to believe, and obey, his own conscience.

We can discover this meaning in life in three different ways: 1. by doing a deed; 2. by experiencing a value; and 3. by suffering.

A man’s concern, even his despair, over the worthwhileness of life is an existential distress but by no means a mental disease.

Either belief in God is unconditional or it is no belief at all.

Our greatest human freedom is that, despite whatever our physical situation is in life, we are always free to choose our thoughts.

There are two races of men in this world but only these two: the race of the decent man and the race of the indecent man.

It isn’t the past which holds us back, it’s the future; and how we undermine it, today.

It is not freedom from conditions, but it is freedom to take a stand toward the conditions.

Pain is only bearable if we know it will end, not if we deny it exists.

I’d fight for love but just don’t let it be a compulsion.

When I was a child, I used to fear monsters under the bed. I have since learned that most monsters are found within. And they are always worth fighting.

Savage, despicable evil. That’s what we were fighting in Iraq.

Wild Bill was anything but a quarrelsome man yet I have personal knowledge of at least half a dozen men whom he had at various times killed.

Great way to fight a war – be prepared to defend yourself for winning.

In the end, my story, in Iraq and afterward, is about more than just killing people or even fighting for my country. It’s about being a man. And it’s about love as well as hate.

The Indians kept increasing in numbers until it was estimated that we were fighting from 800 to 1,000 of them.

Our greatest enemies, the ones we must fight most often, are within.