The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain no matter what happens.

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

If you try and work out at 4:30 in the afternoon, how many people are going to chip away at that time? Your boss, your job, your work, your family, your other obligations that you might have. At 4:30 in the morning, all those people are asleep, so you can do whatever you want.

I want kids to know: Don’t wait for somebody to come along and tell you you’re special. Because that may never happen.

You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.

Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it.

‚Your Erroneous Zones’ was the book that went over the top simply because I believed in it so much.

I think as long as I do a good job and put in all my effort to proving that I’m worth it, then everything should be fine.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.

You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That’s how you know you’re still alive.

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.

He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason.

If a small-town boy like me who bagged groceries was able to make his dreams come true, you can too.

No crime is so great as daring to excel.

You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.

Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.

I’m about being the best.

A boy carries out suggestions more wholeheartedly when he understands their aim.

There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.

If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.

Difficulties should act as a tonic. They should spur us to greater exertion.

When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to reach the second or even the third rank.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

No one has a right to consume happiness without producing it.

It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.

Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.

Pretension is a poor joke that you play on yourself. Snap out of it. Recognise your strengths, work on your weaknesses. Real achievement is liking what you see in the mirror every morning.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

If you ask people what they’ve always wanted to do, most people haven’t done it. That breaks my heart.

Never leave a rhinestone unturned.

I don’t like looking back. I’m always constantly looking forward. I’m not the one to sort of sit and cry over spilt milk. I’m too busy looking for the next cow.

With drive and a bit of talent, you can move mountains. I know. I’ve done it.

I just think it is important that you realize, that you’re the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you’re libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.

There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and satisfactorily to myself; but I believe that it is in my power to elevate myself this very hour above the common level of my life.

Ambition can creep as well as soar.

I take inspiration from everyone and everything. I’m inspired by current champions, former champions, true competitors, people dedicated to their dream, hard workers, dreamers, believers, achievers.

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

You must do the things you think you cannot do.

My biggest criticism is how can people be so easily satisfied? Even people with talent.

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

You’ve got to have faith in what you’re doing and not take no for an answer.

I calculate that I took 20,000 punches, but I earned millions and kept a lot of it. I may talk slow, but my mind is OK.

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

That summer after the draft was probably the most fun I’ve ever had, because all I had to do every day was wake up and go work out for four or five hours. I got to play some golf, which I love to do, too, and then got to hang out with my family.

We must not sit still and look for miracles; up and doing, and the Lord will be with thee. Prayer and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything.

My parents were just constantly affirming me in everything that I did. Late at night, I’d wake up and hear my mother talking over my bed, saying, ‚You’re going to do great on this test. You can do anything you want.‘

The man who does more than he is paid for will soon be paid for more than he does.

The key to winning is choosing to do God’s will and loving others with all you’ve got.

I decided to pursue music, so I dropped out of school and I told my parents I didn’t want any money from them. I got three jobs and I just hit the ground running.

The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success only comes later.

You can’t have it all all at once. Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all, but in given periods in time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it.

Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.

If I wish to compose or write or pray or preach well, I must be angry. Then all the blood in my veins is stirred, and my understanding is sharpened.