However my parents – both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.

The child inside of you knows how to take things as they come, how to deal most effectively and happily with everything and everyone it encounters on this planet. If you can recapture that childlike essence of your being, you can stay ‚forever young at heart.‘

Who is rich? He that rejoices in his portion.

We have communion with Christ in His thoughts, views, and purposes; for His thoughts are our thoughts according to our capacity and sanctity. Believers take the same view of matters as Jesus does; that which pleases Him pleases them, and that which grieves His grieves them also.

The feeling about a soldier is, when all is said and done, he wasn’t really going to do very much with his life anyway. The example usually is: he wasn’t going to compose Beethoven’s Fifth.

Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life’s path.

The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line.

Ambition is the immoderate desire for power.

With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.

For me, I don’t want to cheat the game by saying, or kind of doing lip service by saying, I want to be the greatest ever. I want to be able to show it.

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Pride is still aiming at the best houses: Men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell; aspiring to be angels men rebel.

It’s useful to go out of this world and see it from the perspective of another one.

The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.

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.

It’s very hard for our parents who see us enter a world that they can’t imagine.

Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible.

The cosmos is about the smallest hole that a man can hide his head in.

I’ve always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do.

I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience.

I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.

You learn that there’s no right way to do it, no wrong way to do it. It’s just what you feel comfortable with, to trust that, and don’t let anybody box you in to a certain style of parenting or make you feel a certain way about what your kids do.

A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don’t ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren’t blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.

One thing I just want to say to the military families – while you might not wear a uniform, I know – we all know, the nation knows – that you serve and sacrifice right alongside of your loved ones. And we are so grateful and proud of all of you for your service to this nation.

There can be no better grounding for a lifetime as an author than to see humanity in all its various guises through the lens of the reporter for the town.

The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor that theory.

Only aim to do your duty, and mankind will give you credit where you fail.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

For me, there are two types of people: the young and the experienced.

When I am writing, I do not distinguish between the natural and supernatural. Everything seems real. That is my world, you could say.

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you – gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.

Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.

Tonight – to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans – I ask for your support.

I’m sure that at no point in my life could I ever have shown the kind of focus and discipline and commitment necessary to work a station at elBulli or Le Bernardin. No. That ain’t me.

This desk of mine is one at which a man may die, but from which he cannot resign.

If my films don’t show a profit, I know I’m doing something right.

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.

I feel like my message is to let people know that God is a good God, that He’s on their side, and no matter what happens, He has a great plan for them.

I’ve never met a genius. A genius to me is someone who does well at something he hates. Anybody can do well at something he loves – it’s just a question of finding the subject.

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.

Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.

Prosperity is the best protector of principle.

That is what we are supposed to do when we are at our best – make it all up – but make it up so truly that later it will happen that way.

I think sometimes the critics want me to beat people down, and that’s not in me. I want to lift people up.

California has a special relationship with the Internet. Many of the core technologies that power the Internet were invented here. Many of the most successful online entrepreneurs and content creators – in business, the arts, and countless other endeavors – got their start here.

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.

Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.

In war, when a commander becomes so bereft of reason and perspective that he fails to understand the dependence of arms on Divine guidance, he no longer deserves victory.

I believe that my parents did wonderful things for us.

Your big opportunity may be right where you are now.

If what you have done is unjust, you have not succeeded.

Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.

If everything isn’t black and white, I say, ‚Why the hell not?‘

Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.

As a former resident with strong personal and ministry ties to the North Star State, I pray that the good people of Minnesota will show their support for God’s definition of marriage, between a man and a woman.

Success in training the boy depends largely on the Scoutmaster’s own personal example.

If you don’t get out of the box you’ve been raised in, you won’t understand how much bigger the world is.

I am for people. I can’t help it.

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.