"Freedom is dearer than bread or joy."

“I never knew anybody who was unhappy with their job and was happy with their life. It's your sense of purpose. Now, some people can find it elsewhere. Some people can work a job and find it some place else.”

“I have worked long and hard to try to reduce my debts, and I am devastated that it came to this conclusion. I now intend to focus on the remaining dates of the Westlife tour and my commitments to the band before looking to rebuild a future for my wife, my three children and myself.”

Source : "Westlife singer Shane Filan declared bankrupt" by Henry McDonald and Dan Milmo, www.theguardian.com. June 14, 2012.

“I looked up at the mass of signs and stars in the night sky and laid myself open for the first time to the benign indifference of the world.”

“So often, over the course of our day-to-days, we forget the details of what shapes us most in life. Sure, we'll pay through the nose to have our weddings videotaped, but can we say the same thing about the first time we discovered masturbation, or the moment we realized that the true nature of the opposite sex is to lie and humiliate (and I'm not just talking about women here)? Usually not.”

“You can tell a more over-the-top incredible story if you use a nonfiction form.”

“Every day I wrote in my journal: "How am I going to win today?" So that when the guys are talking about water-boarding I'm telling them they haven't even got the right towels.”

“Those who fall away have never been thoroughly imbued with the knowledge of Christ but only had a slight and passing taste of it.”

“No one can escape stress, but you can learn to cope with it. Practice positive thinking. . . seize control in small ways.”