Probably the advice I could follow more is the self-love sort of advice. I think, four out of every five days, I'm good at that, but certain situations can trigger self-doubt or cloudiness around how I feel about myself.
I spent the 1960s and 1970s seeking myself - the working-class tradition of self-education.
I can't really stand self-help stuff myself.
My failures may be my greatest successes. It is in failure that I have often drawn closer to God, learn to depend more on Him than myself, gained self-knowledge, and seen things in their right perspective.
Music is so therapeutic for me that if I can't get it out, I start feeling bad about myself - a lot of self-loathing.
Being a parent has taught me a lot of things already, you know, though it's only been a year and half, and has made me address parts of myself that I would otherwise live in comfortable denial of, or you know and - you know, for instance, my self-loathing.
In life, you can blame a lot of people and you can wallow in self-pity, or you can pick yourself up and say, 'Listen, I have to be responsible for myself.'
I felt like I couldn't wallow in self-pity forever. I can't beat myself up forever.
I do believe in God. But you won't find me visiting temples every now and then. I believe in self-realization. Peace of mind matters a lot to me. What's the point in doing something just for the sake of it? I'd rather do something I like doing as long as I'm being true to myself.
Self-Realization Fellowship seemed like training. It was the training ground for finding a sense of peace in myself. Because that's my job. It's no one else's.
The most challenging part of being a dad is self-restraint. So often your instinct is to teach and tell. I am constantly reminding myself to listen to them.
Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
Prince was a hero. He was the brother, the black man that was a little different. As a kid, you thought, 'Wow, he's different. If he can do it, I can do it.' I read that he was self-taught, so I started teaching myself to play the piano.
I was in college that first semester, and I was like, 'Wow, this isn't who I am. This isn't what I want to do.' I was like, 'Oh God, I'm going to have to go out and make something of myself, and I have no clue what that is.'
I think that there is a tragic misfit at the core of me, and I've just done a lot of work on myself. I love a good self-help book; I've read a ton of them. I love self-help seminars and therapy and all that.
I will term-limit myself probably before I would have enough seniority to get a committee chairmanship.
As a scientist in charge of space sensors and entire space missions before I was at NASA, I myself was involved in projects that overran. But that's no excuse for remaining silent about this growing problem or failing to champion reform.
By the age of 24, I found myself convicted in prison in Egypt, being blacklisted from three countries in the world for attempting to overthrow their governments, being subjected to torture in Egyptian jails, and sentenced to five years as a prisoner of conscience.
The greatest compliment I get about my writing is when people say, 'How did you know so much about me?' And of course, the answer is very simple: 'I just observed myself without sentimentality.'
If I do do a sequel, I'm going to have to know for sure that the script is better than the original. So I'm going to be very careful about that because I'm not eager to repeat myself.
