Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

The reason that I’m here at all is because of my relationship with my family and their encouragement of me to be a musician and to work hard. As long as I stay there in that space, I can do anything. That’s my truth.

Too many people measure how successful they are by how much money they make or the people that they associate with. In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are.

You can’t die with an unfinished book.

I never sell a book. I sell myself. And the way to sell yourself is to be an instrument of love.

If two smart, intelligent, clever guys sit together on a table, and you both want the same, where can be the problem? We all want to be successful.

Find a job you like and you add five days to every week.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

If you enjoy living, it is not difficult to keep the sense of wonder.

Choosing an attitude of faith will release peace out of your spirit and into your soul.

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.

An elusive, enigmatic aura will make people want to know more, drawing them into your circle. Create such a power by hinting at something contradictory within you.

To be great is to be misunderstood.

How can I be useful, of what service can I be? There is something inside me, what can it be?

Building a mission and building a business go hand in hand. The primary thing that excites me is the mission. But we have always had a healthy understanding that we need to do both.

Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how you’re going to live your life.

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.

The one way to get me to work my hardest was to doubt me.

If you look at the history of Notre Dame, if you hire a coach who’s been successful at another college program, they’re going to be ultra successful at Notre Dame because the talent will always be there.

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.

A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.

I’ve got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.

If you keep proving stuff that others have done, getting confidence, increasing the complexities of your solutions – for the fun of it – then one day you’ll turn around and discover that nobody actually did that one!

What I have in common with the character in ‚Truman‘ is this incredible need to please people. I feel like I want to take care of everyone and I also feel this terrible guilt if I am unable to. And I have felt this way ever since all this success started.

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 think it’s OK to be confident in yourself.

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

The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.

There is more credit and satisfaction in being a first-rate truck driver than a tenth-rate executive.

I’m not gonna be bad at anything, and I want to actually be the best at anything I’m doing. So if I’m playing basketball, if I’m taking the SATs, like, there’s a competitive spirit behind it. With production, it’s the same thing.

The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.

I don’t think I get angry.

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

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.

I always feel like it’s two key ingredients when it comes to following your dreams, making something happen that the average person deems difficult. If you truly believe it, that’s step one. Step two, is, you know, the hard work that goes along with it.

Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.

I wish everyone well, but you need to focus on yourself. You need to stop putting your hand out. Everyone wants hand outs. Everyone wants things for free. You’ve got to put in the work. You’ve got to grind. You’ve got go through the struggle, and you’ve got to get it.

I never thought of losing, but now that it‘ s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That’s my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life.

You’ll never rise any higher than the way you see yourself.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.

I tried being reasonable, I didn’t like it.

How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens.

Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

That’s the biggest gift I can give anybody: ‚Wake up, be aware of who you are, what you’re doing and what you can do to prevent yourself from becoming ill.‘

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

Mastery, I learned, was not something genetic, or for a lucky few. It is something we can all attain if get rid of some misconceptions and gain clarity as to the required path.

It needs time. Nobody wants to hear it, but that’s the truth: if you want to have success in the future, you have to be ready to work now.

Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.

Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.

I never woke up and thought, ‚I really want to live a bold life.‘

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

You do things when the opportunities come along. I’ve had periods in my life when I’ve had a bundle of ideas come along, and I’ve had long dry spells. If I get an idea next week, I’ll do something. If not, I won’t do a damn thing.

This is a world of action, and not for moping and droning in.

All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be so treated.

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

If boyhood and youth are but vanity, must it not be our ambition to become men?

Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so.

Everything I do, I hope, is that I represent something, and I represent the right things to my children and give them the right sense of what they’re capable of and the world as it should be seen.