A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day.

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

Nothing is ever done beautifully which is done in rivalship: or nobly, which is done in pride.

He that speaks much, is much mistaken.

For just when ideas fail, a word comes in to save the situation.

Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.

Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?

You need to overcome the tug of people against you as you reach for high goals.

Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age, to die young, but then you’d never complete your life, would you? You’d never wholly know you.

Why should I be studying for a future that soon may not exist?

There is no way to prosperity, prosperity is the way.

This is not a bad life.

He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.

You can’t die with an unfinished book.

Music comes to me more readily than words.

Luck marches with those who give their very best.

There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it.

Words can be said in bitterness and anger, and often there seems to be an element of truth in the nastiness. And words don’t go away, they just echo around.

Fires can’t be made with dead embers, nor can enthusiasm be stirred by spiritless men. Enthusiasm in our daily work lightens effort and turns even labor into pleasant tasks.

If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.

The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.

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

We will move forward, we will move upward, and yes, we will move onward.

Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.

All my life I’ve looked at words as though I were seeing them for the first time.

Why do I like to write short stories? Well, I certainly didn’t intend to. I was going to write a novel. And still! I still come up with ideas for novels. And I even start novels. But something happens to them. They break up. I look at what I really want to do with the material, and it never turns out to be a novel.

If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.

Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.

I only want my work to make people happy.

The good part about youngsters is that they are so fearless. You want to be like them.

It is a no-fail, incontrovertible reality: If you get, give. If you learn, teach. You can’t do anything with that except do it.

One of the most basic factors in sports is that winning becomes a habit, and losing is the same way. When failure starts to feel normal in your life or your work or even your darkest vices, you won’t have to go looking for trouble, because trouble will find you. Count on it.

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.

Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.

I think maybe people see bands and musicians as some sort of superhero unrealistic sport that happens in another dimension where it’s not real people and not real emotions. So, I grew up listening to Beatles records on my floor. That’s how I learned how to play guitar. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be a musician.

I think life on Earth must be about more than just solving problems… It’s got to be something inspiring, even if it is vicarious.

I can never say ‚why‘ about anything I do. I suppose I can say ‚how‘ and ‚when‘ and ‚what.‘ But ‚why‘ is impenetrable to me.

What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.

If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’s cottage princes‘ palaces.

Being self-made means never making an excuse as to why you can’t take steps toward whatever your goal is.

Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.

Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.

Words without thoughts never to heaven go.

I’d have stopped writing years ago if it were for the money.

You have to dream intentionally. Most people dream a dream when they are asleep. But to be a writer, you have to dream while you are awake, intentionally.

Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.

Make yourself necessary to somebody.

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.

I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine.

The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.

The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it.

The successful men I admired all built their bodies.

Everybody should do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.

Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples.

Trees go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!

Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.

Nothing will work unless you do.

Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.

Difficulties should act as a tonic. They should spur us to greater exertion.