A leader is a dealer in hope.

Probably the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton, but the opening battles of all subsequent wars have been lost there.

When I did have some success, it further emboldens you to be like, ‚No, I’m just going to write what I feel I should write.‘

I am only an average man but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man.

Political courage is not political suicide.

The poets are only the interpreters of the gods.

The army teaches boys to think like men.

There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.

Bravery never goes out of fashion.

As president, I’m committed to making Washington work better and rebuilding the trust of the people who sent us here.

I can tell you this: If I’m ever in a position to call the shots, I’m not going to rush to send somebody else’s kids into a war.

The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting above average effort.

Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy.

If you’re not careful to think and speak words of faith, worry will creep in, and it will not only steal your peace and joy, it will steal your ‚today.‘ The present is the greatest gift God ever gives us. So hold on to the peace that’s yours in Christ. Don’t let it go.

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

Don’t worry about motivation. Motivation is fickle. It comes and goes. It is unreliable – and when you are counting on motivation to get your goals accomplished, you will likely fall short.

I always say I wanna work with Alicia Keys. I’m in awe of her.

I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.

Faith is permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see.

Everybody has a purpose.

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.

All my authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.

If it wasn’t for the fun and money, I really don’t know why I’d bother.

The less we deserve good fortune, the more we hope for it.

I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.

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.

I never dreamt, in my dream, I’m Dalai Lama.

Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.

Love is the answer to everything. It’s the only reason to do anything. If you don’t write stories you love, you’ll never make it. If you don’t write stories that other people love, you’ll never make it.

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

I think our democracy has it exactly right: two terms, eight years. It’s enough. Because it’s important to have one foot in reality when you have access to this kind of power.

Human development thus far has been fueled and guided by the feeling that things could be, and are probably going to be, better.

And now, of course this is another thing I didn’t count on, that now as the governor of the state of California, I am selling California worldwide. You see that? Selling.

We are in a wrong state of mind if we are not in a thankful state of mind.

When I started Virgin from a basement in west London, there was no great plan or strategy. I didn’t set out to build a business empire… For me, building a business is all about doing something to be proud of, bringing talented people together and creating something that’s going to make a real difference to other people’s lives.

People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.

I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

Without football, my life is worth nothing.

That was always the difference between Muhammad Ali and the rest of us. He came, he saw, and if he didn’t entirely conquer – he came as close as anybody we are likely to see in the lifetime of this doomed generation.

I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.

I don’t go off and sit down and try to write material, because then it’s contrived and forced. I just live my life, and I see things in a word or a situation or a concept, and it will create a joke for me.

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

I like to work with artists from around the world. There are so many new inspiring filmmakers.

A subject for a great poet would be God’s boredom after the seventh day of creation.

It’s really hard to guarantee things in life. I guarantee if you get up in the morning and you work out, and you work hard, you will have a better day – 100% guaranteed.

Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don’t ever apologize for anything.

Anytime someone tells me that I can’t do something, I want to do it more.

There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to trust your team. It’s a lesson I’ve had to relearn quite a few times.

And poets, in my view, and I think the view of most people, do speak God’s language – it’s better, it’s finer, it’s language on a higher plane than ordinary people speak in their daily lives.

We should work with the principle that a work that can be done at a lower level should never be escalated to a higher level.

Until you have formed the habit of looking for the good instead of the bad there is in others, you will be neither successful nor happy.

History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.

Laughter heals all wounds, and that’s one thing that everybody shares. No matter what you’re going through, it makes you forget about your problems. I think the world should keep laughing.

Billy Graham is one of my great lifetime heroes. I think he epitomizes the essence of what a Christian leader should be. I have participated in some of his crusades a couple of times in Atlanta. I’ve seen the profound impact he’s had on me personally, and on other people who were not Christians and accepted Christ as Savior.

We’re all dreamers.

I’ve had some ‚riotous excursions of the human spirit‘ alongside the young Sailors and Marines, and it’s time to leave the stage to the young leaders who got their rank the old-fashioned way – they earned their stripes in combat.

Every day is a gift from God. Learn to focus on the Giver and enjoy the gift!

Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.