  My guitar is not a thing. It is an extension of myself. It is who I am.  
  Master of the universe but not of myself, I am the only rebel against my absolute power.  
  I gave myself until I turned 25 to make it. And if it didn’t happen, I thought I’d just try to find a nice husband.  
  I don’t see myself as a philosopher. That’s awfully boring.  
  My goal is to entertain myself and others. 
  I’m kind of a more sunshiny person myself.  
  Myself acquainted with misfortune, I learn to help the unfortunate. 
  When you first get money, you buy all these things so no one thinks you’re mean, and you spread it around. You get a chauffeur and you find yourself thrown around the back of this car and you think, I was happier when I had my own little car! I could drive myself!  
  To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell. 
  I usually find several ways to express myself: different moods, different days, different voices, different things, ‘I’m lighthearted today, I’m gonna do this.’  
  It’s not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself.  
  My mother always wanted me to be glamorous. When I thought about that, it really fired me up, and once I lost all those pounds, I started to feel really good about myself.  
  Being an actor means being an instrument for someone else. I want to give myself completely. 
  When I first see the dailies, I look only at myself, but then you start to see the scene. 
  I can be very critical on myself and on other people; I can be very demanding. 
  They may call me a sinner, but I am at peace with myself. 
  I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself. 
  I always tell people that religious institutions and political institutions should be separate. So while I’m telling people this, I myself continue with them combined. Hypocrisy!  
  I consider myself as a free spokesman for the people.  
  I describe myself as a simple Buddhist monk. No more, no less.  
  One thing I want to make clear, as far as my own rebirth is concerned, the final authority is myself and no one else, and obviously not China’s Communists. 
  I’m a woman, a mother, a daughter, a sister. I’m a real person operating in the world. For me to discuss the most private thing feels wrong. It feels like I’m betraying myself and my children.  
  Besides being responsible for myself, I’m now responsible for someone else. And I have to set the right examples. I have to really be someone that I would want my child to look up to.  
  I’ve always been an unselfish guy, and that’s the only way I know how to play on the court and I try to play to the maximum of my ability – not only for myself but for my teammates.  
  There’s one advantage in having been around as long as I have. Everybody in the Senate knows me, and – I’m going to say something presumptuous, to repeat myself – I think most respect me.  
  I have always regarded myself, in the first place, as an African patriot.  
  I should tie myself to no particular system of society other than of socialism.  
  I am confident that nobody… will accuse me of selfishness if I ask to spend time, while I am still in good health, with my family, my friends and also with myself. 
  I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me.  
  I see myself capable of arrogance and brutality… That’s a fierce thing, to discover within yourself that which you despise the most in others.  
  So, one way or another, I found myself in a few movies. I take it seriously when I’m on the set, but I don’t take myself seriously as an actor.
  I don’t think I’m really in a situation to complain, because I consider myself to be privileged to be doing what I do.  
  I forged myself out of a vacuum. I crawl along the highway on hacked off stumps year after year. Some wonder how and why. I never do. 
  The pop world is cool, but I never really thought of myself as part of it or wanting to be a part of it because I’m on a label that’s not really like that. They’re not trying to dress me up, they’re not trying to do things like that. I feel like I’m sort of separate from that, actually. 
  On the first album I was saying, that’s just one part of me. And then I was thinking, well, am I going to hide the rest of me now just because I’m afraid of something? No. I’m just going to be myself.  
  I don’t think I ever thought of myself as Superman. But there were people who thought of me that way, and maybe I believed them a little.  
  And I laugh at myself when I screw things up, which happens all the time. 
  Maybe I’m ego-tripping, but I don’t find myself a particularly horrible person, so I don’t think I need to hold back anything I think or feel.  
  I take the work seriously, just not myself in it. 
  To this day, my haircut is the number two clippers, which I apply to myself every month.  
  Every summer, around late July and into August, I find myself in Europe, performing at any festival that will have me.  
  If it was something that I really committed myself to, I don’t think there’s anything that could stop me becoming President of the United States.  
  Stubborn isn’t a word I would use to describe myself; pigheaded is more appropriate.  
  Justice to my readers compels me to admit that I write because I have nothing to do; justice to myself induces me to add that I will cease to write the moment I have nothing to say. 
  I don’t call myself a Buddhist. I’m a free spirit. I believe I’m here on earth to admire and enjoy it; that’s my religion. 
  I started out as a poet. I’ve always been a poet since I was 7 or 8. And so I feel myself to be fundamentally a poet who got into writing novels.  
  In my work and in myself I reflect black people, women and men, as I reflect others. One day even the most self-protective ones will look into the mirror I provide and not be afraid.  
  I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.  
  The world is the mirror of myself dying.  
  If I spread myself too thin, I’m not a good actor, I’m not a good mother, and I’m just really high-strung – and everybody hates me.  
  I’m really proud of myself because I’ve pared my beauty regimen down to a cream blush and berry-tinted lip balm, which has saved me so much time. 
  So much about living life, to me, is about humility and gratitude. And I’ve tried very hard to have those qualities and be that person and I’m just so disappointed in myself that I allowed it to slip. 
  I pride myself on being kind.
  I always assume I look better than I actually do. I’ll feel pretty good about myself when I leave the house, then I’ll see a picture and think, ‘Crap, I had no idea that’s what I was looking like.’ 
  I used to weigh myself every day at a certain time of day. Then I would write down the number and measure my body fat. It wasn’t a healthy way to live. 
  I have impeached myself by resigning.  
  I brought myself down. I impeached myself by resigning. 
  I really believe in the philosophy that you create your own universe. I’m just trying to create a good one for myself.  
  I don’t know how to defend myself: surprised innocence cannot imagine being under suspicion. 
  I see myself as sexy. If you are comfortable with it, it can be very classy and appealing. 
  God’s mercy and grace give me hope – for myself, and for our world. 
  Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself.  
  I sometimes give myself admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it.  
  Marriages don’t last. When I meet a guy, the first question I ask myself is: is this the man I want my children to spend their weekends with? 
  I was raised to sense what someone wanted me to be and be that kind of person. It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else’s eyes. 
  If I had to associate myself with one song, it would probably be Let Love Rule. It’s so simple and to the point. It speaks for itself.  
  If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day. 
  I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair. 
  I made up my mind long ago that life was too short to do anything for myself that I could pay others to do for me. 
  Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there.  
  Love is a binding force, by which another is joined to me and cherished by myself. 
  I took a break from acting for four years to get a degree in mathematics at UCLA, and during that time I had the rare opportunity to actually do research as an undergraduate. And myself and two other people co-authored a new theorem: Percolation and Gibbs States Multiplicity for Ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller Models on Two Dimensions, or Z2. 
  When I originally entered UCLA, I had planned to go for a film major, but I kept finding myself taking math classes for fun, ’cause I missed them from high school!  
  My main concern with the condition of mathematics in high school is that there’s a lot of fear involved! Math is not, generally speaking, presented in a fun way. The concepts, as I see them, are fun, and that’s the way I’d like to convey them myself. 
  Do I consider myself sexy? It all depends on the way I’m feeling. When I’m happy inside, that’s when I feel most sexy. 
  A lot of the problems I had with fame I was bringing on myself. A lot of self-loathing, a lot of woe-is-me. Now I’m learning to see the positive side of things, instead of, like, ‘I can’t go to Kmart. I can’t take my kids to the haunted house.’  
  I don’t even know how to speak up for myself, because I don’t really have a father who would give me the confidence or advice.  
  When I’m not longer rapping, I want to open up an ice cream parlor and call myself Scoop Dogg. 
  I cannot cure myself of that most woeful of youth’s follies – thinking that those who care about us will care for the things that mean much to us. 
  Not being able to govern events, I govern myself. 
  If a man urge me to tell wherefore I loved him, I feel it cannot be expressed but by answering: Because it was he, because it was myself. 
  If I told you about all the stories I don’t tell, I would be violating the very boundaries I set for myself. 
  I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind – and to work some of those contradictions out for myself.  
  If ordinary people complain that I speak too much of myself, I complain that they do not even think of themselves.  
  I just need to know that I did the very best I could and that I was true to myself. 
  I’m finding myself really angry over spending and the deficit. I’m finding myself really angry over what’s happening in the Middle East, the decision to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. I’m angry about cap and trade. And I’ve been on record for a long time on the failed war on drugs.  

  When I need to push myself, I think of all those nicely polished trophies waiting to be lifted up by the winner – and how that winner might be me. 
  I have a very big sweet tooth and I love treating myself to something that I wouldn’t necessarily eat during the tournament such as a nice-sized cake.  
  I love my parents. Coming out to them was sort of coming out to myself. I educated them, and I wanted our relationship to keep growing. I wanted them to be a part of my life still. I wanted to be able to share with them what I was going through. 
  I just want to be myself. 
  Boards and myself get along somehow.  
  I think I should be active politically. Because I look upon myself as a politician. That’s not a dirty work you know. Some people think that there are something wrong with politicians. Of course, something wrong with some politicians. 
  Only through destroying myself can I discover the greater power of my spirit.  
  Every time I write something, I think, this is the most offensive thing I will ever write. But no. I always surprise myself. 
  I’ve always said that one night, I’m going to find myself in some field somewhere, I’m standing on grass, and it’s raining, and I’m with the person I love, and I know I’m at the very point I’ve been dreaming of getting to.  
  At first, I only laughed at myself. Then I noticed that life itself is amusing. I’ve been in a generally good mood ever since. 
  Writing for somebody else is really fun ’cause I consider myself a songwriter first and foremost.  
  I could party in a cardboard box with people who are funny and don’t care. For me, it’s really about who I surround myself with, so I just try to always be with hilarious people.  
  It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else’s eyes.
  I was in a queer mood, thinking myself very old: but now I am a woman again – as I always am when I write. 
  I’m grateful to God for His bountiful gifts… He gave me courage and faith in myself.  
  I’ve woken up from dreams and the whole song is there. I’m listening to it in my dreams. I consciously have to wake myself up and get a tape recorder because I hear it like a record.  
  Certainly I’ll never be able to put myself in the situation that people growing up in the less developed countries are in. I’ve gotten a bit of a sense of it by being out there and meeting people and talking with them.  
  I’m not trying to be sexy. It’s just my way of expressing myself when I move around.  
  I quote others only in order the better to express myself.  
  I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment. 
  I study myself more than any other subject. That is my metaphysics, that is my physics.  
  If I read a book that impresses me, I have to take myself firmly by the hand, before I mix with other people; otherwise they would think my mind rather queer. 
  The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on. 
  If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I’m not frightened by anyone’s perception of me. 
  The first thing which I can record concerning myself is, that I was born. These are wonderful words. This life, to which neither time nor eternity can bring diminution – this everlasting living soul, began. My mind loses itself in these depths. 
  I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars.  
  O public road, I say back I am not afraid to leave you, yet I love you, you express me better than I can express myself. 
  More and more, it feels like I’m doing a really bad impersonation of myself.  
  When you’re singing you can hear the echo of people in the audience singing every single word with you, and that was that big dream that I had for myself. It’s happening. 
  Yes, and I had pimples so badly it used to make me so shy. I used not to look at myself. I’d hide my face in the dark, I wouldn’t want to look in the mirror and my father teased me and I just hated it and I cried everyday.  
  I am no longer sure of anything. If I satiate my desires, I sin but I deliver myself from them; if I refuse to satisfy them, they infect the whole soul.  
  I used to work in a funeral home to feel good about myself, just the fact that I was breathing. 
  I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing. 
  I would describe myself as emotional and highly strung. If something upsets me, it really upsets me. If something makes me angry, I get really angry. But it’s all very upfront. I can’t hide it. I’m also loyal and I hope I’m fun. 
  I’m in trouble because I’m normal and slightly arrogant. A lot of people don’t like themselves and I happen to be totally in love with myself. 
  When I was waiting tables, washing dishes, or mowing lawns for money, I never thought of myself as stuck in some station in life. I was on my own path, my own journey, an American journey where I could think for myself, decide for myself, define happiness for myself.  
  I alone of English writers have consciously set myself to make music out of what I may call the sound of sense. 
  I’m not a fighter, but in my mind I’m fighting every day. ‘What’s new? What am I doing?’ I’m fighting myself. My soul is samurai. My roots aren’t samurai, but my soul is.  
  I find myself hoping a total end of all the unhappy divisions of mankind by party-spirit, which at best is but the madness of many for the gain of a few. 
  When I give, I give myself.  
  Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune. 
  I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself.  
  The dupe of friendship, and the fool of love; have I not reason to hate and to despise myself? Indeed I do; and chiefly for not having hated and despised the world enough.  
  I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.  
  Where ever I am I always find myself looking out the window wishing I was somewhere else.  
  I felt ashamed for what I had done. I don’t have any excuses. I did what I did. I take full responsibility for myself and my actions. I wouldn’t pawn this off on anybody. I’m sorry it happened. And I hurt people. 
  I’m not going to limit myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else. 
  If I wasn’t Bob Dylan, I’d probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself.  
  Madame Bovary is myself.  
  In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. 
  When I record somebody else’s song, I have to make it my own or it doesn’t feel right. I’ll say to myself, I wrote this and he doesn’t know it! 
  What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven. 
  I could see myself in a relationship with a girl; Olivia Wilde is so sexy she makes me want to strangle a mountain ox with my bare hands. She’s mesmerizing.
  I do myself a greater injury in lying than I do him of whom I tell a lie. 
  Every night on the court I give my all, and if I’m not giving 100 percent, I criticize myself. 
  God has entrusted me with myself. 
  The No. 1 issue in the Hispanic American community is ‘How do I leave my children better off than myself? 
  I pinch myself because of the understanding that I’ve been blessed with a real rare opportunity that few Americans ever get – to serve their government and their people at this level. 
  Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone. Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring.  
  If all of us acted in unison as I act individually there would be no wars and no poverty. I have made myself personally responsible for the fate of every human being who has come my way.
  Picasso once remarked I do not care who it is that has or does influence me as long as it is not myself. 
  To withdraw myself from myself has ever been my sole, my entire, my sincere motive in scribbling at all.  
  To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn’t be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife. 
  ‘Worry’ is a word that I don’t allow myself to use. 
  I don’t follow other players or the tournaments they play. I have my own schedule and do my own thing. I never really think, ‘Oh, I want to be or play like so-and-so.’ I just like being myself.  
  If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life – and only then will I be free to become myself. 
  I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.  
  I don’t look to a man to get pride in myself. It’s not about having a black president, it’s about having a good president, and I think that’s the most important thing.  
  I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man.  
  Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself. 
  I have to live for others and not for myself: that’s middle-class morality.  
  I do not concern myself with gods and spirits either good or evil nor do I serve any.  
  I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.  
  I think it’s important to take a break, you know, from the public eye for a while, and give people a chance to miss you. I want longevity. I don’t want to get out there and run myself ragged and spread myself thin.  
  Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.  
  If I seem to boast more than is becoming, my excuse is that I brag for humanity rather than for myself.
  I think of myself as an intelligent, sensitive human being with the soul of a clown which always forces me to blow it at the most important moments. 
  When the burdens of the presidency seem unusually heavy, I always remind myself it could be worse. I could be a mayor.  
  There is a lot of pressure put on me, but I don’t put a lot of pressure on myself. I feel if I play my game, it will take care of itself.  
  I’m happy being myself, which I’ve never been before. I always hid in other people, or tried to find myself through the characters, or live out their lives, but I didn’t have those things in mine. 
  I’m undaunted in my quest to amuse myself by constantly changing my hair.  
  I have learned to keep to myself how exceptional I am.  
  I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.  

Derrick Lewis is following