Giving responsibility is the key to success with boys, especially with the rowdiest and most difficult boys.

Small aim is a crime; have great aim.

Sometimes I wonder why I’m a novelist right now. There is no definite career reason why I became a writer. Something happened, and I became a writer. And now I’m a successful writer.

The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk.

To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.

Once elected, the Pope is by virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope is preserved from the possibility of error. God would change any spend thrift politician into a responsible Pope.

What life half gives a man, posterity gives entirely.

Freedom is what everyone wants – to be able to act and live with freedom. But the only way to get to a place of freedom is through discipline.

Most people dream a dream when they are asleep. But to be a writer, you have to dream while you are awake, intentionally. So I get up early in the morning, 4 o’clock, and I sit at my desk and what I do is just dream. After three or four hours, that’s enough. In the afternoon, I run. The next day, the dream will continue.

The Oklahoma City bombing was simple technology, horribly used. The problem is not technology. The problem is the person or persons using it.

I want to let you in on a little secret: I don’t always feel like I’m a success. That’s right. There are plenty of times when I feel like I’ve just totally messed up and failed to connect with the people I’m trying to communicate with.

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.

The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.

What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

A lot of preachers‘ kids are some of the most rebellious kids in the world. I never was like that.

I guess that’s one of the things about growing up in the fifties – it never occurred to me that you wouldn’t be at least as successful as your parents.

Most people have the opportunity of a lifetime flash right in front of them, and they fail to see it. A year later, they find out about it, after everyone else got rich.

Being prime minister is a lonely job… you cannot lead from the crowd.

In my opinion, rankings are a very fickle measurement of one’s success and it is best to not get carried away by it.

He who has a task to perform must know how to take sides, or he is quite unworthy of it.

I want to marry Arline because I love her – which means I want to take care of her. That is all there is to it. I want to take care of her. I am anxious for the responsibilities and uncertainties of taking care of the girl I love.

I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.

This industry has been really good to me. It’s been a great life. I’m not through yet. I’m ready when you are, Mr. DeMille.

You can’t be afraid to fail. It’s the only way you succeed – you’re not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that.

I believe God, Jesus, died that we not just go to Heaven but that we excel in this life. I never think you make money your goal… God wants you to excel. Just keep Him in first place, and God will open up doors you never dreamed of.

Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities or make the money that you want without becoming very good at it.

Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.

When we talk about mortality, we are talking about our children.

I think about my own sons and my own daughters, and I’m sure that many parents are concerned about what their children are exposed to.

I think you can judge from somebody’s actions a kind of a stability and sense of purpose perhaps created by strong religious roots. I mean, there’s a certain patience, a certain discipline, I think, that religion helps you achieve.

Successful people will always tell you you can do something. It’s the people who have never accomplished anything who will always discourage you from trying to achieve excellent things.

The Scoutmaster who is a hero to his boys holds a powerful lever to their development but at the same time brings a great responsibility on himself. They are quick enough to see the smallest characteristic about him, whether it be a virtue or a vice.

Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.

Opera happens because a large number of things amazingly fail to go wrong.

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.

Historically, the family has played the primary role in educating children for life, with the school providing supplemental scaffolding to the family.

It’s much easier to be successful than it is to be relevant. The tricks won’t keep you relevant. Tricks might keep you popular for a while, but in all honesty, I don’t know how U2 will stay relevant. I know we’ve got a future. I know we can fill stadiums. And yet with every record, I think, ‚Is this it? Are we still relevant?‘

The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.

When you have two busy kids running around the house, returning e-mails is a task, let alone surfing the web.

Do I worry about being in the public eye and raising kids? Yeah. Any situation you’re in, you’re gonna worry about raising kids. But it’s champagne problems, too. There are people who can’t feed their kids.

No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing, and doing it very well, ever loses his self-respect.

It’s never crowded along the extra mile.

Great industries are never made from single companies. There is room in space for a lot of winners.

In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.

A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions.

The ‚Billionaire‘ song is what my kids tease me with. They sing it to me. It’s funny.

As a father, I always want my son to be perfect. When he was young, I tried to train him in martial arts, but he said, ‚I don’t want to become like Bruce Lee’s son, with everybody telling me how good my father was.‘ I just think my son is too lazy.

The child who desires education will be bettered by it; the child who dislikes it disgraced.

The more responsibility the Scoutmaster gives his patrol leaders, the more they will respond.

Apply yourself both now and in the next life. Without effort, you cannot be prosperous. Though the land be good, You cannot have an abundant crop without cultivation.

Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you’ve got to start young.

What one has, one ought to use: and whatever he does he should do with all his might.

A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere.

Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained.

The age in which we live, this non-stop distraction, is making it more impossible for the young generation to ever have the curiosity or discipline… because you need to be alone to find out anything.

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.

People have told me, ‚You shouldn’t bring your daughter onto the podium, ‚cause it’s the workplace,‘ and things like that. But I’m not gonna really listen to that. I’m gonna do what I think is fun for me and my family, and everything’ll be all right.

Well, I think we tried very hard not to be overconfident, because when you get overconfident, that’s when something snaps up and bites you.

You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing.