"Conflict is necessary for growth. But too often conflict becomes a haven for the soul. Until one day, the soul can no longer free itself. In real growth the soul learns to fly rather than having the ego inflated with praise from accomplishments as if it were a balloon. Only because it buys time, do we develop a strong and protective ego. This is the early stage in the soul’s evolution, until such time when the soul hatches out of its shell, which is the ego, into a new world in which there is incomparable beauty."

"Beware of the possible reason some people are honestly down and out - it is because they tried to copy the many who are superficially doing well."

"Truth rides best In that which looks ridiculous."

"Rather than programming children as if they were computers, parents should be something like art instructors. Because life is like a clump-of-clay, you can’t make it into an expression of beauty, unless you take it into your hands. While sprinkling their lives with painful and playful diversions, people wait their lives miserably into old age, for the skills to live-life, to–come as did life- itself."

"Things differ because of the time in which they exist. In time, things opposite will reverse themselves. Also, judging does the opposite of clearing it confuses. Now, if any of this you judged to be non-sense, then perhaps it’s not so obvious that judging is the worst escort perception can have."

"Vanity begins and ends with deception, so the reason people put interesting and attractive clothes on their bodies is perhaps the same for having uninteresting and unattractive expressions on their faces."

"Truth is so large OR people’s minds are so small that they’re only able to nibble on the edges – and when growth brings them to the area where they can feed on truth itself, as they move in and eat of the seed, there they become truth."

"Because of guilt there is painful diversion; because of greed there is playful diversion; because of grass there is pleasurable diversion."

"Having a sincere desire to want growth does not mean at that point you are committing yourself to growth."

"'It’s a great tragedy that the ability to act is used to manipulate people, but it is a greater tragedy that people welcome it while sometimes making a phony protest."

"There are lesser people not for what they are, but for why they are."

"It’s past time that people get involved in thinking – now that the computers can take over the field of memory."

"People fight not because they disagree,but because they don’t know they agree."

"Being able to communicate with someone doesn’t necessarily mean that you understand them."

"Most writers are successful in getting their readers’ attention, but fail at getting them to think. If you’re asked to explain anything philosophical to anyone, the chances are great their understanding will be superficial; it’s best they don’t understand than to think they do, so encourage them to grow into understanding and don’t hand them too much explanation."

"Passion is a disguise for attachment – sometimes as hate and other times as love."

"Genius does not only require superior knowledge and skill, but also superior patience."

"Because of subconscious guilt, people spend half their lives in self-punishment and the other half taking on more guilt."

"Money inspires activity, not honesty."

"People find it easy to justify their frustration in the struggle to manipulate others, but find it hard to justify the struggle for their own growth."

"Sometimes when you feed on another’s word you must eat it like a banana – you peel it first."

"Technology has not advanced because people are starved for instruments to make a better civilization, but because they are starved for entertainment – technology is still mostly a toy factory for grown-ups."

"People have learned to escape reality very well but too often lose their way back."

"The more fortunate people among us would surely think we are civilized, but the less fortunate among us are a reminder that we’re not."

"Just as feelings grow out of ignorance, intuition should grow out of knowledge."

"Americans are simple people with simple interests – The only time they sincerely ask “why” about anything is when they don’t receive their paychecks."

"All things – great, small, good, bad, friend, enemy—should be a lesson, not an obsession."

"There can be danger in stretching the body if it’s not done properly. The same is true with the imagination and the chemistry which may give the imagination elasticity, but the soul gives a direction."

"In order to stay clear of pain, we must know and know why we feel best while having pain."

"Defensive thinkers best defend themselves from knowing who they are."

"Rather than studying the laws of cause and effect, people spend their lives being the effect and running from the cause."

"When making a commitment, make it not to someone, but of someone to yourself."

"One tool that is used most and has the greatest misuse of power is looks, and another tool that is used least and has the least desire for power is wisdom."

"One solution to one problem makes two problems."

"There are opposing forces in all living things. My work reflects this and stirs up a contrast of emotions in the viewer... perception versus annoyance. To the viewer who has reached that level of awareness, my work is no longer abstract, but very real."

"Can someone eat the fruit that comes from the tree of action that grows from the seeds of your mind?"

"The bird of truth would not be able to fly if it weren't for the air of lies we breathe."

"While traveling our separated roads through life, we are also either road signs or potholes on the roads of others."

"If you seek just a little truth, as most, you should not ignore abstract forms, the basis from which all short-lived experiences we call reality springs."

"Desire, Dedication, Determination."

"We won together, we dreamed together, we hoped together, and we lost together."

"The Bears are what we thought they were. Th-they're what we thought they were. We played them in preseason. I mean, who the hell takes the third game of the preseason like it's bullshit? Bullshit! We played them in the third game, everybody played three quarters... the Bears are who we thought they were! That’s why we took the damn field! Now, *hits microphone* if you want to crown them, then crown their ass! But, they are who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!"

"What is soul? I don't know! Soul is a hamhock in your cornflakes... Soul is a joint rolled in toilet paper."

"The people who run the show in the NBA don't know anything about Islam. I think that may also be why some people are against me personally--because I am a Muslim. It's the same way people can be against you because of the color of your skin. They don't look past these things. But it always depends on the individual."

"My life is very simple. I like simplicity and for my time to be my own, so that I have the freedom to devote the majority of it to Islam. That is the foundation from which I keep everything in perspective. I also want to let people know about Islam, how Islam can be a way of life. I want them to really understand its richness and its beauty and to see that Islam is for everybody. For me, this is the most important thing. From this, everything else falls into place."

"I respect a lot of players in this league. But to me basketball is just a little aspect of my life. I enjoy the game because it's fun. But it is a game."

"Being from Africa is the best thing that could have ever, ever happened to me. I cannot see it any other way. All of my fundamental principles that were instilled in me in my home, from my childhood, are still with me. And now, when I look at the system here and look at my position--not just as a basketball player, but when I look around me at the values of the people and the culture and compare them with the values of where I came from--I feel so blessed to be from Africa."

"Everyone thought I was going to die like a year later, they didn't know. So I helped educate sports, and then the world, that a man living with HIV can play basketball. He's not going to give it to anybody by playing basketball."

"I think sometimes we think, "Well, only gay people can get it; it's not going to happen to me", and here I am saying that it can happen to anybody."

"He told me he couldn't wait for the basketball season to end, so he could go back to baseball and get out of shape."