A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.

To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.

All of our problems start in our minds.

We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our education system.

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

I like the idea of working in different genres and transcending genres and hopefully finding success, and ultimately make movies people like.

A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.

I think when smallpox was eliminated, the whole world got pretty excited about that because it’s just such a dramatic success.

He has achieved success who has worked well, laughed often, and loved much.

You’re always learning. The problem is, sometimes you stop and think you understand the world. This is not correct. The world is always moving. You never reach the point you can stop making an effort.

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

Accountability breeds response-ability.

I nearly failed when Virgin was in its infancy; I nearly failed in the early 1980s, and, of course, I have nearly died more than once trying to achieve a world record for boating or ballooning. But through a combination of luck and planning, both Virgin and I are still here.

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.

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension.

A man who is not afraid is not aggressive, a man who has no sense of fear of any kind is really a free, a peaceful man.

None are more taken in by flattery than the proud, who wish to be the first and are not.

Eighty percent of success is showing up.

Basically, I’m one of the greatest producers ever. And I’m also one of the greatest DJs ever. And I’m also one of the best executives ever.

How could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.

I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience.

The man never feels the want of what it never occurs to him to ask for.

Your emotions are very unstable and should never be the foundation for direction in your life.

Susceptibility to the highest forces is the highest genius.

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.

Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than the one with all the facts.

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.

If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals.

Everybody wants to be me. What can I say?

I’m not a god – I do bad things.

Our personal intelligence is everlasting and divine.

Trust not yourself, but your defects to know, make use of every friend and every foe.

It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are… than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.

Now that I understand that I’m an addict, I definitely have compassion for my mother. I get it.

Without discipline, there’s no life at all.

Anything you’re good at contributes to happiness.

Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.

If the people are happy, united, wealthy, and powerful, we presume the rest. We conclude that to be good from whence good is derived.

Become aware of your own insufficiency.

You start to become successful, and everybody starts to drive your money train to the bank, and they’re not thinking anymore about what you want as an artist or if any of that even matters to you. It genuinely upsets people in my life that I don’t care about money, and that’s not my problem.

It’s a common misconception that money is every entrepreneur’s metric for success. It’s not, and nor should it be.

Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.

If I went back to my 20-year-old self, what I would tell my 20-year-old self is, ‚You don’t know anything.‘ Because everyone, when they’re young, they think they know what’s going on in the world, and you don’t.

By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.

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

Nothing will work unless you do.

I don’t think you get successful to brag and throw what you have in the world’s face. That’s all private.

There is an innocence in admiration; it is found in those to whom it has never yet occurred that they, too, might be admired some day.

Success is not greedy, as people think, but insignificant. That is why it satisfies nobody.

None but ourselves can free our minds.

I have goals.

I’m always disappointed when people don’t live up to their potential. I know that a number of people look down on themselves and consequently on everybody who looks like them. But that, too, can change.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Listening has importance only when one is not projecting one’s own desires through which one listens.

A man’s own judgment should be the final appeal in all that relates to himself.

I want to go down in the history books with what I’ve achieved.

Fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.

I put my flaws on front street. So the world accepted my flaws, so I don’t have any flaws.