I taught myself English. My English teacher was the sitcom ‘Friends.’ Back in the days when I was, like, 15, 14, it was like a syndrome for Korean parents to make their kids watch ‘Friends.’ I thought I was a victim at that time, but now I’m the lucky one.
I do know one thing about me: I don’t measure myself by others’ expectations or let others define my worth.
I don’t believe in God, though I’m not prepared to call myself an atheist either. You know the old phrase: ‘There are no atheists in foxholes.’ I’ve never been in a foxhole, and if I ever find myself in a foxhole, I’ll let you know if I believe in God or not.
With a Catholic mother and a Muslim father, I’ve always had a great interest in religion, but I’ve never practiced one myself. After I received a diagnosis of an aggressive form of leukemia at the age of 22, I put my faith in medicine.
I get facials. I get a manicure and pedicure every week. I get my hair cut, and I oil myself down from head to toe. I got that from my brother. I was so impressed with how high maintenance he was. When he left the room, you could still smell him for an hour.
Living indoors without fresh air quickly poisons the blood and makes people feel tired and seedy when they don’t know why. For myself, I sleep out of doors in winter as well as summer. I only feel tired or seedy when I have been indoors a lot. I only catch cold when I sleep in a room.
I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.
I have to live for others and not for myself: that’s middle-class morality.
I like to delude myself that I’m in the old-Hollywood mode. I just tailor my clothes well and try to keep my skin clear. While it would be great to work out an hour a day, there is something inherently sort of selfish about it. I can’t do it.
I’m just trying to be myself. I’m not trying to be anyone else.
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
I have made myself what I am. And I would that I could make the red people as great as the conceptions of my own mind, when I think of the Great Spirit that rules over us all.
I tell myself that if I start to listen to these people and start to let them decide how I should behave and what I should do, then this is not my life – it’s theirs.
I believe you make your day. You make your life. So much of it is all perception, and this is the form that I built for myself. I have to accept it and work within those compounds, and it’s up to me.
All I’ve ever needed is myself.
I have devoted myself to the Rockets.
Each time I think I’ve created time for myself, along comes a throwback to disrupt my private space.
Whenever I run into prejudice. I smile and feel sorry for them, and I say to myself, There’s one more argument for birth control.
I do not know myself, and God forbid that I should.
I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means – except by getting off his back.
I am a danger to myself if I get angry.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have worked with so many great collaborators in my lifetime.
Some people have been kind enough to call me a fine artist. I’ve always called myself an illustrator. I’m not sure what the difference is. All I know is that whatever type of work I do, I try to give it my very best. Art has been my life.
My idea of my music is constantly changing so I feel like how other people react to my old songs just ends up putting more pressure on myself from my own perspective.
I like to think of myself as classy.
I know now that most people are so closely concerned with themselves that they are not aware of their own individuality, I can see myself, and it has helped me to say what I want to say in paint.
Ten years ago, I went to visit my dad in Australia. I walked to the edge of a cliff and looked over and tripped. I righted myself but my head was over the edge. No one saw it.
I think the greatest amount of pressure is the pressure I place on myself. So in a way I chose to be alone.
The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.
I’m not trying to be different. To me, I’m just being myself.
I’m in competition only with myself, and I always want to push the envelope.
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.
If I were to live my life over again, I would be an American. I would steep myself in America, I would know no other land.
I’ve learned that I can’t have a packed work schedule and a packed social schedule and a packed personal life; I need to just have time to myself to sit and breathe and unwind.
I myself prefer my New Zealand eggs for breakfast.
I have surrounded myself with very smart people.
I don’t remember myself to be a forefront fighter, but when pushed to a point with a wall behind me, there is only one way forward. Later you can call it a Rambo syndrome, but I never regret it, as it comes naturally to me, and in my mind, that is the only way.
It’s just the risk that I take and the sacrifice that I make: Putting myself, my career, my family’s peace of mind on the line just to do right by my fans. It ain’t no gray area: You’re either with that and willing to go out of your way to make people who contribute to your dreams coming true happy or you aren’t.
I am trying to find myself. Sometimes that’s not easy.
I have a fear of poverty in old age. I have this vision of myself living in a skip and eating cat food. It’s because I’m freelance, and I’ve never had a proper job. I don’t have a pension, and my savings are dwindling. I always thought someone would just come along and look after me.
I would uphold the law if for no other reason but to protect myself.
I just bring energy, try to put myself in a good mood, because you’re not going to get through practice if you’re drowsy, don’t feel like doing nothing. Then it’s going to be a long practice and coach is going to be all over you.
I really don’t have any weaknesses. I do have areas of my life that I am working on to grow, heal and evolve. Giving myself permission to rest is an area I am working on. Not rescuing my children and grandchildren is another area.
Myself when young did eagerly frequent doctor and saint, and heard great argument about it and about: but evermore came out by the same door as in I went.
The evening is really hard for me. I have to force myself not to eat.
I have always believed in reinventing myself and taking risks.
Every time I dance, I’m trying to prove myself to myself.
If I had to describe myself, I wouldn’t use words like ‘hero.’ I wouldn’t use ‘patriot,’ and I wouldn’t use ‘traitor.’ I’d say I’m an American and I’m a citizen, just like everyone else.
If Christ has died for me, ungodly as I am, without strength as I am, then I cannot live in sin any longer, but must arouse myself to love and serve Him who has redeemed me.
Let me think about the people who I care about the most, and how when they fail or disappoint me… I still love them, I still give them chances, and I still see the best in them. Let me extend that generosity to myself.
Sometimes, I myself, even though I’m in Washington, I go quiet because there is so much intimidation around me.
My father left his piano at the house when he left, and I wasn’t allowed to play it when he was there because I wasn’t as good as him. So when he left, I was determined to get as good as him, and I taught myself how to play music, and I just stuck with it, and I did it all the time.
I really don’t think in the past. I sit down with many friends at dinner, and they like to talk about the good old days. I’m respectful of the good old days, but I find myself spending very little time reminiscing. I’m really looking forward.
In a sense I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny.
And I have to work so hard at talking positively to myself. If I don’t, it’s just real hard to get through the day, and I’ll get really down, and just want to cry. My whole body language changes. I get more slumped over.
Even if I don’t release it myself, somebody else might hear it and want to record it. When you write a song, it gives it that potential.
There are a lot of people who can slide on talent their whole lives; they’re just naturally gifted. I’ve never considered myself one of those people. I enjoy outworking the opposition.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m a character being written, or if I’m writing myself.
I never sell a book. I sell myself. And the way to sell yourself is to be an instrument of love.
I think of myself… as a troubadour, a village storyteller, the guy in the shadows of the campfire.
I consider myself more of a producer and a musician than a DJ.
My opponents, they say, ‘Aw, I can take this one.’ But when they see me in the ring, when I transform myself, then they say to themselves, ‘God, what have I put myself into?’
