Have you not learned that strength comes to an ordinary soul when given an extraordinary calling?

The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me.

I’ve always had a problem with the average macho man – they’ve always been a threat to me.

Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.

If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.

We are always getting ready to live but never living.

Strength was the virtue of paganism; obedience is the virtue of Christianity.

I’m always trying. Between every book, I think, ‚Well now, it’s time to get down to the serious stuff.‘

The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend to do what I then did – which was to hide.

I’ve lived a very colorful life, and I’ve said some things, But not once have I taken them back, and I’ve never apologized for them – and I won’t.

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

The right man is the one who seizes the moment.

When it comes to everybody else’s thing and their lane and their timing, I’m never doing anything intentional to, like, come after somebody. That will always be my biggest mistake or anybody’s biggest mistake if that’s their intention.

My goal is to entertain myself and others.

Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.

I had to come from something, come from a place that was negative and positive but the majority of it is a negative place.

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 don’t see myself in terms of artifice. I see myself as a real person who chooses to live my life in an open way – artistically.

I used to get into a lot of fights.

Single life is so overrated.

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: ‚I’m with you kid. Let’s go.‘

If you dream the proper dreams, and share the myths with people, they will want to grow up to be like you.

It seems the older you get, the more life comes into focus.

Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

Anytime I feel lost, I pull out a map and stare. I stare until I have reminded myself that life is a giant adventure, so much to do, to see.

The greatest story of all is Colonel Sanders. He didn’t start until he was sixty-six on a freeway bypass for his chicken shop. Anything is possible!

When I was writing ‚Kitchen Confidential,‘ I was in my 40s, I had never paid rent on time, I was 10 years behind on my taxes, I had never owned my own furniture or a car.

I strongly believe that missionaries make better products. They care more. For a missionary, it’s not just about the business. There has to be a business, and the business has to make sense, but that’s not why you do it. You do it because you have something meaningful that motivates you.

Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.

My father was a mean, controlling and manipulative person for most of his life. He was unpredictable and unstable.

You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.

I have spent many years of my life in opposition, and I rather like the role.

That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

I may be no better, but at least I am different.

Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

Let each become all that he was created capable of being.

Have the humility to learn from those around you.

Make bold choices and make mistakes. It’s all those things that add up to the person you become.

A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.

I woke up one day and thought: ‚I want to write a book about the history of my body.‘ I could justify talking about my mother because it was in her body that my body began.

Defeat doesn’t finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he’s defeated. He’s finished when he quits.

I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.

You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.

I like to write about love and love lost because I feel like there are so many different subcategories of emotions that you can possibly delve into.

What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.

The more I see the less I know for sure.

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

I once wanted to prove myself by being a great actress. Now I want to prove that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll be a great actress.

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.

Self-centered leaders manipulate when they move people for personal benefit. Mature leaders motivate by moving people for mutual benefit.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

I hate to see complacency prevail in our lives when it’s so directly contrary to the teaching of Christ.

It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.

Sometimes it is better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.

I do believe in self-help.

I was not a good student. I did not spend much time at college; I was too busy enjoying myself.

I don’t look at my old work. I mean, they made nice books; the books were made without me, the one from last year and the one from this year. I – personally, I’m not interested in my own past. I’m only interested in today – perhaps tomorrow.