I didn’t want to become a professor or get tenure or teach or anything. All I wanted to do was get a degree because Louis Leakey said I needed one, which was right, and once I succeeded I could get back to the field.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.

Why don’t they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.

The great question of our time is, ‚Will we be motivated by materialistic philosophy or by spiritual power?‘

My elder brothers were all put apprentices to different trades. I was put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending to devote me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the Church.

Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self interest.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.

You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.

When you revolutionize education, you’re taking the very mechanism of how people be smarter and do new things, and you’re priming the pump for so many incredible things.

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!

I think there are a number of things that you can do to encourage your kids‘ dreams, but I do believe in speaking by experience of having a lot of help along the way, stumbling in the past. We’ve all stumbled, and we certainly all deserve to get up and walk again.

We make the Sabbath a delight when we teach the gospel to our children.

Dream and you shall become.

By 2018, an estimated 63 percent of all new U.S. jobs will require workers with an education beyond high school. For our young people to get those jobs, they first need to graduate from high school ready to start a postsecondary education.

The arrogance of age must submit to be taught by youth.

Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure.

Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.

The Bible says to ‚fear not,‘ but this doesn’t mean you should never feel scared. It means when you do feel fear, keep going forward and do what you are supposed to do. Or as I like to say, do it afraid.

Before finding music, I didn’t have too many aspirations. I wanted to hang out, make a little money from whatever I had to do.

Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.

I believe enlightenment or revelation comes in daily life. I look for joy, the peace of action. You need action. I’d have stopped writing years ago if it were for the money.

The confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord’s mercy motivates us to do better.

Why should anybody be interested in some old man who was a failure?

Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

Computers themselves, and software yet to be developed, will revolutionize the way we learn.

The old adage about giving a man a fish versus teaching him how to fish has been updated by a reader: Give a man a fish and he will ask for tartar sauce and French fries! Moreover, some politician who wants his vote will declare all these things to be among his ‚basic rights.‘

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

My superhero has always been Tendulkar, and it will be Tendulkar for life. He is someone who has inspired me immensely. Just watching him play for India, I used to dream of winning games for India, because he used to do it single handedly.

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.

Example is leadership.

Everybody is going to have their critics. It’s easy to get discouraged in life.

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.

One today is worth two tomorrows.

I’m just an individual who doesn’t feel that I need to have somebody qualify my work in any particular way. I’m working for me.

I never worry about action, but only inaction.

Talk that does not end in any kind of action is better suppressed altogether.

In terms of my involvement in ‚don’t ask, don’t tell‘ and marriage equality and anti-bullying and social emotional learning in schools – these are all things that arise out of my relationship with the world and with my fans.

I can’t keep somebody from being a star, and I can’t make somebody a star, and nobody can.

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

Maybe other people will try to limit me but I don’t limit myself.

The only way you gain mental toughness is to do things you’re not happy doing. If you continue doing things that you’re satisfied and make you happy, you’re not getting stronger. You’re staying where you’re at. Either you’re getting better, or you’re getting worse. You’re not staying the same.

Work aside, we come to New York for the possibility of interaction and inspiration.

Winning is the most important. Everything is consequence of that.

Without discipline, there’s no life at all.

I’m responsible for starting a whole new school of pretension.

If you even dream of beating me you’d better wake up and apologize.

The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you’ll make one.

There’s no point in starting a business unless you’re going to make a dramatic difference to other people’s lives. So if you’ve got an idea that’s gonna make a big difference to other people’s lives, then just get on and do it.

I never cut class. I loved getting A’s, I liked being smart. I liked being on time. I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world.

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he’ll never crow. I have seen the light and I’m crowing.

I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

We may stumble and fall but shall rise again; it should be enough if we did not run away from the battle.

Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty; it is its own reward. Everything else is in God’s hands.

I’d like to think you don’t stop being creative once you get happy.

Don’t be a writer; it’s a terrible way to live your life. There’s nothing to be gained from it but poverty and obscurity and solitude. So if you have a taste for all those things, which means that you really are burning to do it, then go ahead and do it. But don’t expect anything from anybody.

I wasn’t born a natural entrepreneur. I had to be trained.