I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.

Use, do not abuse… neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.

We cannot attribute to fortune or virtue that which is achieved without either.

If I made a commitment, I stood by that commitment – and try to make it real. Because when you become leaders, the most important thing you have is your word, your trust. That’s where respect comes from.

Earn your success based on service to others, not at the expense of others.

Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

I was a little worried that young people would think the only game was being political and manipulative when really the bigger game is being so good at what you do that nobody can argue with your results.

I don’t like to commit myself about heaven and hell – you see, I have friends in both places.

I began revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

My parents shared not only an improbable love, they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or blessed, believing that in a tolerant America your name is no barrier to success.

I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfil our destiny, but our fate is sealed.

Then not only custom, but also nature affirms that to do is more disgraceful than to suffer injustice, and that justice is equality.

A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself.

Getting money is not all a man’s business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

The cause of my life has been to oppose superstition. It’s a battle you can’t hope to win – it’s a battle that’s going to go on forever. It’s part of the human condition.

By denying scientific principles, one may maintain any paradox.

One man that has a mind and knows it can always beat ten men who haven’t and don’t.

I truly believe the things Notre Dame stands for.

No group and no government can properly prescribe precisely what should constitute the body of knowledge with which true education is concerned.

I believe that one key to success is to accept truth, no matter how it’s spoken.

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.

I’m the proof – you can’t throw away tradition.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

I go to assume a task more difficult than that which devolved upon Washington. Unless the great God, who assisted him, shall be with me and aid me, I must fail; but if the same omniscient mind and almighty arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support me, I shall not fail – I shall succeed.

You can be rich in spirit, kindness, love and all those things that you can’t put a dollar sign on.

That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.

The question of whether or not there is a God or truth or reality or whatever you like to call it, can never be answered by books, by priests, philosopher’s or saviours. Nobody and nothing can answer the question but you yourself, and that is why you must know yourself – Immaturity lies only in total ignorance of self.

People say ‚I want to be rich‘. The question is, ‚Are you willing to do what it takes?‘

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

We are not living in a world where all roads are radii of a circle and where all, if followed long enough, will therefore draw gradually nearer and finally meet at the centre: rather in a world where every road, after a few miles, forks into two, and each of those into two again, and at each fork, you must make a decision.

Man lives freely only by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing him.

You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.

I do not pretend to start with precise questions. I do not think you can start with anything precise. You have to achieve such precision as you can, as you go along.

I never expect to lose. Even when I’m the underdog, I still prepare a victory speech.

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions, even on important subjects, which I once thought right but found to be otherwise.

One of the great strengths of the United States is… we have a very large Christian population – we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.

I can’t deny that label-support gave me a leg up – though not every successful artist needs it.

Act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.

All nature is but art unknown to thee.

From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned.

There is a blessed necessity by which the interest of men is always driving them to the right; and, again, making all crime mean and ugly.

The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.

The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.

The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day. The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win – you pass the test.

But at any rate, the point is that God is what nobody admits to being, and everybody really is.

I think a big test we all face in life on a regular basis is that discouragement test. Life’s not always fair, but I believe if you keep doing the right thing, God will get you to where you are.

All great achievements require time.

My name is Adam Sandler. I’m not particularly talented. I’m not particularly good-looking. And yet I’m a multi-millionaire.

Great geniuses have the shortest biographies.

Virtue itself scapes not calumnious strokes.

It’s been wonderful for me, and I feel so privileged to have fans that are that loyal.

You could not step twice into the same rivers; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.

Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it… Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.

If man made himself the first object of study, he would see how incapable he is of going further. How can a part know the whole?

My mother was a very wonderful woman. When she and my dad divorced, she moved to California and worked two jobs in the cannery at night and as a waitress during the day. But she saved enough money to establish a restaurant.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‚Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.‘

Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics.

Within one’s own family, money is not the measure of things, unless the person is an absolute Scrooge. Only the most extreme kind of monster would put a price on everything.