“Our beliefs about what we are and what we can be precisely determine what we can be”

“A belief is a question we have put aside so we can get on with what we believe we have to do.”

“What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.”

“Suppose our failures occur, not in spite of what we are doing, but precisely because of it.”

“Our most important asset and our greatest wealth is strength of mind, intention and will, perseverance, determination and commitment to what we seek and to what we want to achieve.”

“Our lives are more like fragmentary dreams than the enactments of conscious selves. We control very little of what we most care about; many of our most fateful decisions are made unbeknownst to ourselves. Yet we insist that mankind can achieve what we cannot: conscious mastery of its existence. This is the creed of those who have given up an irrational belief in God for an irrational faith in mankind.”

“We can determine America's future. After all, that's what an election is all about. So let's decide for optimism, not pessimism; for hope, not despair; for strength, not weakness; for victory, not defeat.”

“Only if we are secure in our beliefs can we see the comical side of the universe.”

“This negation of our existence, and the omitting of our stories and histories, is one of the reasons I write — I write to exist. We cannot escape our past; our past determines what choices we make for the future. It determines how we act, how we see ourselves…”

“What we call rational grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our instincts.”