“I'd rather see you poor men's wives, if you were happy, beloved, contented, than queen's on thrones, without self-respect and peace.”

Saturday Evening Post (February 1980)
Context: I'm more contented and at peace with myself now than I was as a box-office queen. I'm less uptight. I've even reached a stage where it doesn't shatter me if somebody prints something bad about me.

2015, Speech: Declaration as Vice Presidential Candidate

Source: Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564)
Context: Readers, friends, if you turn these pages
Put your prejudice aside,
For, really, there's nothing here that's outrageous,
Nothing sick, or bad — or contagious.
Not that I sit here glowing with pride
For my book: all you'll find is laughter:
That's all the glory my heart is after,
Seeing how sorrow eats you, defeats you.
I'd rather write about laughing than crying,
For laughter makes men human, and courageous.

Source: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Hunter
Song lyrics, No Angel (1999)

The Last Lecture (2008)

"Discontent", in St. Nicholas Magazine, Vol. 3 (February 1876), p. 247
Context: "Dear robin," said this sad young flower,
"Perhaps you'd not mind trying
To find a nice white frill for me,
Some day when you are flying?" "You silly thing!" the robin said;
"I think you must be crazy!
I'd rather be my honest self
Than any made-up daisy. "You're nicer in your own bright gown,
The little children love you;
Be the best buttercup you can,
And think no flower above you. "Though swallows leave me out of sight,
We'd better keep our places;
Perhaps the world would all go wrong
With one too many daisies. "Look bravely up into the sky,
And be content with knowing
That God wished for a buttercup
Just here, where you are growing."

Source: Looking Backward, 2000-1887 http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext96/lkbak10.txt (1888), Ch. 11.