Great Throughts Treasury

"I'm starting with the man in the mirror. I'm asking him to change his ways. And no message could have been any clearer: If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change."

"The meaning of life is contained in every single expression of life. It is present in the infinity of forms and phenomena that exist in all of creation... Each of us arrives on this planet with a purpose. To fulfill that purpose is to ignite the spark of divinity in us and give meaning to our lives."

"Hope is such a beautiful word, but it often seems very fragile. Life is still being needlessly hurt and destroyed."

"If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with."

"In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe."

"Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons."

"We have to heal our wounded world. The chaos, despair, and senseless destruction we see today are a result of the alienation that people feel from each other and their environment."

"People ask me how I make music. I tell them I just step into it. It's like stepping into a river and joining the flow. Every moment in the river has its song."

"When children listen to music, they don't just listen. They melt into the melody and flow with the rhythm. Something inside starts to unfold its wings - soon the child and the music are one."

"To live is to be musical, starting with the blood dancing in your veins. Everything living has a rhythm. Do you feel your music?"

"Sometimes the heart is so heavy that we turn away from it and forget that its throbbing is the wisest message of life, a wordless message that says, "Live, be, move, rejoice -- you are alive!" Without the heart's wise rhythm, we could not exist."

"In the end, the most important thing is to be true to yourself and those you love and work hard. Work like there's no tomorrow. Train. Strive. Really train and cultivate your talent to the highest degree. Be the best at what you do. Get to know more about your field than anybody alive. Use the tools of your trade, if it's books or a floor to dance on or a body of water to swim in. Whatever it is, it's yours. That's what I've always tried to remember."

"All of us are products of our childhood."

"Human knowledge consists not only of libraries of parchment and ink - it is also comprised of the volumes of knowledge that are written on the human heart, chiselled on the human soul, and engraved on the human psyche. "

"I believe I'm one of the loneliest people in the world."

"Consciousness expresses itself through creation. This world we live in is the dance of the creator. Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye but the dance lives on. On many an occasion when I am dancing, I have felt touched by something sacred.In those moments, I felt my spirit soar and become one with everything that exists. I become the stars and the moon. I become the lover and the beloved. I become thevictor and the vanquished. I become the master and the slave. I become the singer and the song. I become the knower and the known. I keep on dancing then it is the eternal dance or creation. The creator and creation merge into one wholeness of joy. I keep on dancing...and dancing...and dancing. Until there is only... the dance."

"A star can never die. It just turns into a smile and melts back into the cosmic music, the dance of life."

"Ain't no mountain that I can't climb baby. All is going my way."

"All of Hollywood has plastic surgery. I don't know why they point me out. The press exaggerated it. It's just my nose, you know. They want it to be everything. Just the nose isn't enough."

"All the colors of the world should be loving each other wholeheartedly, yes, it's alright, take my message to your brother and tell him twice, spread the word and try to teach the man who's hating his brother when hate won't do, when we're all the same, 'cause the blood inside me is inside of you."

"And it doesn't seem to matter, and it doesn't seem right, 'cause the will has brought no fortune, still I cry alone at night, don't you judge of my composure, 'cause I'm bothered every day, and she didn't leave a letter, she just up and ran away."

"A bunch of guys at work heard me sing and they said I should try this. But I probably wouldn't have done it on my own if they hadn't suggested it."

"And that's what innocence is. It's simple and trusting like a child, not judgmental and committed to one narrow point of view. If you are locked into a pattern of thinking and responding, your creativity gets blocked. You miss the freshness and magic of the moment. Learn to be innocent again, and that freshness never fades."

"And the dream we were conceived in will reveal a joyful face... and the world we once believed in will shine again in grace. Then why do we keep strangling life wound this Earth, crucify its soul. Though it's plain to see, this world is heavenly. We could be God's glow... Heal the world."

"And I remember going to the record studio and there was a park across the street and I'd see all the children playing and I would cry because it would make me sad that I would have to work instead."

"And my goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: the ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance."

"And the whole world has to answer right now, just to tell you once again, 'Who's bad!'"

"Annie, are you OK? Annie, are you OK? Are you OK, Annie? You've been hit by, you've been struck by a smooth criminal."

"As he came into the window it was the sound of a crescendo. He came in her apartment, he left the blood stains on the carpet. She ran underneath the table, he could see she was unable so she ran into the bedroom. She was struck down, it was her doom."

"Animals strike not from malice but because they want to live, it is the same with those who criticize, they desire our blood not our pain. But still I must achieve I must seek truth in all things. I must endure for the power I was sent forth, for the world for the children. But have mercy, for I've been bleeding a long time now."

"Beat it, beat it, no-one wants to be defeated, showin' how funky and strong is your fight, it doesn't matter who's wrong or right. Just beat it."

"As we walked into the room there were faces staring, glaring, tearing through me, someone said, 'Welcome to your doom,' then they smiled with eyes that looked as if they knew me, this is scaring me."

"Because I wanted to have a place that I could create everything that I that I never had as a child. So, you see rides. You see animals. There's a movie theater."

"Because I think every child star suffers through this period because you're not the cute and charming child that you were. You start to grow, and they want to keep you little forever."

"Because parents have power over children. They feel they have to do what their parents say. But the love of money is the root of all evil. And this is a sweet child. And to see him turn like this, this isn't him. This is not him."

"Before I would hurt a child, I would slit my wrists."

"Billie Jean is not my lover, she's just a girl who claims that I am the one, but the kid is not my son."

"But they told me a man should be faithful, and walk when not able, and fight till the end but I'm only Human."

"Before you judge me, try hard to love me, look within your heart then ask, have you seen my childhood?"

"But for me the sweetest contact with God has no form. I close my eyes, look within, and enter a deep soft silence. The infinity of God's creation embraces me."

"'Cause I just can't stop loving you."

"But I will never stop helping and loving people."

"'Cause there's a time when you're right and you know you must fight, who's laughing, baby? Don't you know? And there's a choice that we make, and a choice you must take, who's laughing, baby?"

"Children show me in their playful smiles the divine in everyone. This simple goodness shines straight from their hearts and only asks to be lived."

"Despite the challenging market environment, the board is confident about the prospects for the current year,"

"Don't blame it on the sunshine. Don't blame it on the moonlight. Blame it on the boogie."

"Each time the wind blows I hear your voice so I call your name. Whispers at morning our love is dawning heaven's glad you came."

"Each song is a child I nourish and give my love to. But even if you have never written a song, your life is a song. How can it not be?"

"Elizabeth Taylor is gorgeous, beautiful, and she still is today, I'm crazy about her."

"Ever since I was a little boy, I would study composition. And it was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky that influenced me the most. If you take an album like Nutcracker Suite, every song is killer, every one. So I said to myself, 'Why can't there be a pop album where every...' ? People used to do an album where you'd get one good song, and the rest were like B-sides, they'd call them "album songs" ? and I'd say to myself 'Why can't everyone be like a hit song? Why can't every song be so great that people would want to buy it if you could release it as a single? So I always tried to strive for that. That was the purpose for the next album."