I like to use the hard times in the past to motivate me today.

Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.

You have to be a bastard to make it, and that’s a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on earth.

If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.

I am not afraid… I was born to do this.

I was in a terrible mess in my childhood.

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

Love to everybody who is out there progressing and taking things to the next level.

Whether for life or death, do your own work well.

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

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.

The greatest difficulty always comes right before the birth of a dream.

Why should I be studying for a future that soon may not exist?

I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.

Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!

Don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine.

Never confuse motion with action.

If I inspire you, pay for it, period.

The shortest answer is doing the thing.

You must take the compromise to win, or else nothing. That means: you race or you do not.

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

Anything I do, I want to do it well.

When a team takes ownership of its problems, the problem gets solved. It is true on the battlefield, it is true in business, and it is true in life.

Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.

Overcoming my dad telling me that I could never amount to anything is what has made me the megalomaniac that you see today.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

I lived a sloppy life. So I took very small increments in my life. I started making my bed. I started cleaning my room. There were dishes in the sink. It started off with doing small house chores. I saw that the yard needed to be mowed. So instead of being told it needed to be mowed, I would mow it.

If my businesses or my investments are not profitable, then I don’t eat. And I like to eat.

History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.

I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. No matter what the injury – unless it’s completely debilitating – I’m going to be the same player I’ve always been. I’ll figure it out. I’ll make some tweaks, some changes, but I’m still coming.

I use my celebrity status to inspire someone, to give them hope.

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

Everybody has a purpose.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

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.

Human development thus far has been fueled and guided by the feeling that things could be, and are probably going to be, better.

Whatever I engage in, I must push inordinately.

You have within you right now, everything you need to deal with whatever the world can throw at you.

In the dim background of mind we know what we ought to be doing but somehow we cannot start.

It is any day better to stand erect with a broken and bandaged head then to crawl on one’s belly, in order to be able to save one’s head.

I think a certain amount of stress in life is good. The stress of just working, which takes effort – I think it keeps you going.

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.

When things are going bad, don’t get all bummed out. Don’t get startled; don’t get frustrated. If you can say the word ‚good,‘ guess what? It means you’re still alive. It means you’re still breathing.

Finite to fail, but infinite to venture.

The boy who is going to make a great man must not make up his mind merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses and defeats.

One likes people much better when they’re battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.

The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation.

By any accepted standard, I have had more than nine lives. I counted them up once, and there were 13 times I almost and maybe should have died.

There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.

Quitting is the easiest thing to do.

I wouldn’t ever say if you’re having tough times then there must be something wrong with you or your attitude. Life’s a fight. It’s a good fight of faith. I encourage people to stay up, stay hopeful, stay faith-filled.

I had so many people try to talk me out of starting a rocket company, it was crazy.

You can’t stop everything from happening. But we’ve gotten to a point where we’re certainly trying. If a car doesn’t have four hundred air bags in it, then it’s no good.

The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.

In the brute physical world, and the one encompassed by medicine, there are all too many things that could kill you, don’t kill you, and then leave you considerably weaker.

I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.

You get to a point where it’s like you can’t really do anything right, and people will pick on you for whatever decisions you make, so I just try and take no notice and get on with my music.

Just do some kind of workout. Doesn’t matter if it’s going for a walk around the block, going for a jog, doing some calisthenics, lifting weights, going to a pool and swimming – you name it. But do something that gets your blood flowing and gets your mind in the game.

I was set free because my greatest fear had been realized, and I still had a daughter who I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.