People will try to bring you down, but you gotta go up.

It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.

I just want to be myself.

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

Nothing new here, except my marrying, which to me is a matter of profound wonder.

Necessity is the mother of taking chances.

There are 309 million people out there that are trying to improve their lot in life. And we’ve got a system that allows them to do it.

Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.

Man is not made for defeat.

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

Fear? If I have gained anything by damning myself, it is that I no longer have anything to fear.

I didn’t die young. So I am very lucky. There are other artists and people that didn’t survive certain things… people can imagine that I did the most dangerous, and I did the worst… for many reasons, I shouldn’t be here.

If you wish to be a writer, write.

Beware of the man who does not return your blow: he neither forgives you nor allows you to forgive yourself.

Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.

One thing I want to make clear, as far as my own rebirth is concerned, the final authority is myself and no one else, and obviously not China’s Communists.

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.

To live alone is the fate of all great souls.

A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.

There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.

Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.

We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!

I get up every morning and say, ‚Father, give me strength today, not strength so I can lift 500 pounds, but give me strength, Lord, so when I speak, my words might motivate, might inspire somebody, Lord, when they see me, let them see you. When they hear me, Lord, let them hear you. In your holy name I pray.‘

Ambition has one heel nailed in well, though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens.

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.

Remind yourself that winning an argument or proving your point really gets you nowhere in the long run. Win through your actions, not your words.

The key is taking responsibility and initiative, deciding what your life is about and prioritizing your life around the most important things.

It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done.

I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up – they have no holidays.

At the end of the day, I pray for the best.

Doing the box set is one of those things where you get to rewrite your own history to some extent. We could take out some of the songs that we felt weren’t as strong as some of the others, so you look better.

When we get to wishing a great deal for ourselves, whatever we get soon turns into mere limitation and exclusion.

And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last.

When you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‚em, ‚Certainly I can!‘ Then get busy and find out how to do it.

My whole life has been one big improvisation.

Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.

I write for myself things that I’ve gone through.

Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.

We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor – got her master’s with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.

I’ve learned over the years that when I go to that place of passion within me, there’s no force in the universe that can interfere with my completing a project.

We proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things and tackling our biggest challenges.

Even when we have physical hardships, we can be very happy.

All of us are mentors. You’re mentors right here and now. And one of the things I’ve always done throughout my life, I have always found that person, that group of people that I was going to reach my hand out and help bring them along with me.

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.

It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things.

God made you a masterpiece – be blessed, secure, disciplined and equipped.

Success is steady progress toward one’s personal goals.

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

Success is counted sweetest by those who never succeed.

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

Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops.

There is such a thing as old emotional pain living inside you. It is an accumulation of painful life experience that was not fully faced and accepted in the moment it arose. It leaves behind an energy form of emotional pain.

Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

Courage is grace under pressure.

He too serves a certain purpose who only stands and cheers.

It’s stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.

Ego is only fine when it is working for your motivation.

Fame is ultimately about the cycles of desire and how to do away with them or manage them well.