A lot was accomplished in my mixtape career. But I still needed a few things: I needed to be recognized. I need to have radio. I need to have a real retail machine that can get us where we need to get that.

My success isn’t a result of arrogance – it’s a result of belief.

We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.

Since day one, since the first time I touched the pen, I wanted to be the best at what I do.

My father was not a failure. After all, he was the father of a president of the United States.

You shall, I question not, find a way to the top if you diligently seek for it; for nature hath placed nothing so high that it is out of the reach of industry and valor.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

I’ve never met a genius. A genius to me is someone who does well at something he hates. Anybody can do well at something he loves – it’s just a question of finding the subject.

I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.

Part of the issue of achievement is to be able to set realistic goals, but that’s one of the hardest things to do because you don’t always know exactly where you’re going, and you shouldn’t.

Be more dedicated to making solid achievements than in running after swift but synthetic happiness.

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.

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.

What is easy is seldom excellent.

Wood burns because it has the proper stuff in it; and a man becomes famous because he has the proper stuff in him.

We never fail when we try to do our duty, we always fail when we neglect to do it.

I wanted to sell a million records, and I sold a million records. I wanted to go platinum; I went platinum. I’ve been working nonstop since I was 15. I don’t even know how to chill out.

Victory belongs to the most persevering.

Black or white good parts are hard to come by. A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity it doesn’t matter how good you are.

He who wishes to be rich in a day will be hanged in a year.

Whatever you do, do with all your might.

If you carefully consider what you want to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success.

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.

Until it’s on the radio or online, it’s not real. With U2, our album isn’t finished until it’s in the stores.

One of my goals from really early on was that if I was ever fortunate enough to be successful in music, I would want to stay the same person and the same songwriter.

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.

Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become.

Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.

The most successful detectives owe their success to noticing small signs. Scouts are natural detectives and never let the smallest detail escape them. These small things are called by Scouts ‚Sign.‘

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.

There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.

When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.

One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

I just hate meetings. Though it’s true that once you’ve made a lot of money, people around you might be full of ideas about ways to make lots more money and might be disappointed that you don’t want to seize every opportunity to do so.

There was my name up in lights. I said, ‚God, somebody’s made a mistake.‘ But there it was, in lights. And I sat there and said, ‚Remember, you’re not a star.‘ Yet there it was up in lights.

I am results-oriented.

What one has to do usually can be done.

People in Ethiopia, the Sudan, etc., don’t know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognize the name UNICEF. When they see UNICEF, their faces light up, because they know that something is happening. In the Sudan, for example, they call a water pump ‚UNICEF.‘

Every season is a new challenge to me, and I always set out to improve in terms of games, goals, assists.

I cannot conceive of Israel withdrawing if Arab states do not recognize Israel, within secure borders.

A great fortune is a great slavery.

My goals are so high that I don’t have time to relax in any way, shape or form.

If anyone remembers me, it’s about my hard work.

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

The principle of all successful effort is to try to do not what is absolutely the best, but what is easily within our power, and suited for our temperament and condition.

If what you have done is unjust, you have not succeeded.

I’ve always believed that success for anyone is all about drive, dedication, and desire, but for me, it’s also been about confidence and faith.

I’m definitely gaining new fans, and that’s the key of any success… gain more love.

My drive is other people’s success.

Of course it would be nice for everybody and myself if we could win but we can still have a personal or a team win if we achieve a target that is effectively a win for us.

Clinicians, academicians, and politicians are often put to a test of faith. In pursuit of their goals, will their religion show or will it be hidden? Are they tied back to God or to man?

Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognize them, since that is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion.

I think, because I started Virgin when I was a teenager, it has become a part of me, like my family, and I am motivated by ambition for it, almost as if it were a child.

Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.

The boy who is going to make a great man must not make up his mind merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses and defeats.

If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.

We have a big appetite for putting people down but, at the heart of everyone, there’s enough room for all of us to succeed.

Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.

In ‚Changeling,‘ I tried to show something you’d never see nowadays – a kid sitting and looking at the radio. Just sitting in front of the radio and listening. Your mind does the rest.

To win is always good for the feeling of the whole team.

It’s cool to be recognised by your peers.