I was born in Harlem, raised in the South Bronx, went to public school, got out of public college, went into the Army, and then I just stuck with it.

As far as a glass ceiling, I feel that all you can do is give it your absolute best with whatever gifts the universe has given you. And if you make it in some way that other people can recognize, that’s fine. But even if you don’t quote-unquote make it, you’re fine if you’ve given it your whole heart and soul.

Giving up cannot be an option.

I have said this many times, that there seems to be enough room in the world for mediocre men, but not for mediocre women, and we really have to work very, very hard.

We all face storms in life. Some are more difficult than others, but we all go through trials and tribulation. That’s why we have the gift of faith.

Sectional football games have the glory and the despair of war, and when a Texas team takes the field against a foreign state, it is an army with banners.

If a whole bunch of people want to make your life a living hell, they’re gonna do it.

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

My honour was not yielded, but conquered merely.

You know, not to sound corny or nuthin‘, but I felt like a fighter comin‘ up, man. I felt like, you know, I’m being attacked for this reason or that reason, and I gotta fight my way through this.

Irrespective of whether you have talent or not, one has to work hard. Just being talented doesn’t mean anything; you can end up wasting it before you realize.

My other brother-in-law died. He was a karate expert, then joined the army. The first time he saluted, he killed himself.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

Never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place – that is, the unique you. Have an aim in life, continuously acquire knowledge, work hard, and have perseverance to realise the great life.

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.

We are twice armed if we fight with faith.

With Kansas, I had a four-year deal. The initial two months were real tough. I had to adjust a lot. Then, things started looking up.

Neither the Army nor the Navy is of any protection, or very little protection, against aerial raids.

The sergeant is the Army.

In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm… in the real world all rests on perseverance.

You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.

The one thing about the business of entertainment is that you have to learn patience.

I’ve written some great things. That’s a gift, but there’s consequences. Yeah, you get this great work, but you suffer. You really, really suffer.

If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.

Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.

The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.

The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there… and still on your feet.

It sounds simple telling people to work hard and never quit, but to really execute and demonstrate those principles takes discipline and faith. Those are the two factors that I believe separate the good from the great, the successes from the failures.

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

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity.

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.

Self-belief and hard work will always earn you success.

Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer to your goal.

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

My message to all the activists is to just keep going, and I know it really may seem impossible and hopeless sometimes – it always does – so you just have to keep going because if you try hard enough and long enough you will make a difference.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.

People think because I’ve got some success, I’ve made it, but in my eyes it’s like, ‚How long has Jay Z been in the business? How many albums has he got?‘ Not that I’m trying to be Jay Z, but I am trying to be around for a long time.

It’s a frustrating game because the situations so drastically change at different times over the course of the week, the game, the season. It feels like brain surgery at times.

Fighting for one’s freedom, struggling towards being free, is like struggling to be a poet or a good Christian or a good Jew or a good Muslim or good Zen Buddhist. You work all day long and achieve some kind of level of success by nightfall, go to sleep and wake up the next morning with the job still to be done. So you start all over again.

Energy, like the biblical grain of the mustard-seed, will remove mountains.

Imperfection clings to a person, and if they wait till they are brushed off entirely, they would spin for ever on their axis, advancing nowhere.

It must be quite mysterious to some people why I bother to carry on. Because, you know, I don’t sell that many records.

Trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement. Discouragement has a germ of its own, as different from trouble as arthritis is different from a stiff joint.

The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.

Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.

Certainly it is valuable to a trained writer to crash in an aircraft which burns. He learns several important things very quickly. Whether they will be of use to him is conditioned by survival. Survival, with honor, that outmoded and all-important word, is as difficult as ever and as all-important to a writer.

I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country’s cause.

Sometimes you have to take two steps back to take ten forward.

I’ve been blessed to be somebody that’s been climbing that success mountain top for years of hard work, you know, but now it’s all connecting. And now, the whole world is watching, you know what I’m saying, and it feels good ‚cause it’s good energy. This is all positive vibes, and good vibes and good energy, so it feels incredible.

I wrote some of the worst poetry west from the Mississippi River, but I wrote. And I finally sometimes got it right.

I probably wouldn’t have made it this far if I were a refugee.

I will do this job as long as I feel that I can do it full steam.

When times are bad is when the real entrepreneurs emerge.

When we make progress quickly, it feeds our emotions. Then, when there’s a period of waiting or we hit a plateau, we find out how committed we really are and whether we’re going to see things through to the finish or quit.

I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.

Our patience will achieve more than our force.

I don’t mind people hating me, because it pushes me.

The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.