Ability is nothing without opportunity.

Sometimes I wonder why I’m a novelist right now. There is no definite career reason why I became a writer. Something happened, and I became a writer. And now I’m a successful writer.

We’re constantly striving for success, fame and comfort when all we really need to be happy is someone or some thing to be enthusiastic about.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

At the end of the day, I understand that life has road blocks, and life is like school – you’ll be tested; we gotta pass it.

There are people out there who hate me and who say I’m arrogant, vain, and whatever. That’s all part of my success. I am made to be the best.

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

Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat.

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

I fear that many a man’s good resolutions only need the ordinary fire of daily life to make them melt away. So, too, with fine professions and the boastings of perfection which abound in this age of shams.

Never regret what you don’t write.

I didn’t work hard to sit down and not work.

A true artist is expected to be all that is noble-minded, and this is not altogether a mistake; on the other hand, however, in what a mean way are critics allowed to pounce upon us.

Listen; there’s a hell of a good universe next door: let’s go.

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

And die of nothing but a rage to live.

The Bible tells us to be perfect. This is likely a scary thought for many people. It used to scare me. I didn’t think I could ever get there, no matter how hard I tried.

The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?

I fear that there are too many priesthood bearers who have done little or nothing to develop their ability to access the powers of Heaven.

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.

God, our Creator, has stored within our minds and personalities, great potential strength and ability. Prayer helps us tap and develop these powers.

I can’t keep somebody from being a star, and I can’t make somebody a star, and nobody can.

I’m not going to lie; listen, I’m nice at basketball.

Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?

Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified.

The highest reward that God gives us for good work is the ability to do better work.

In Britain, like most of the developed world, stem-cell research is regarded as a great opportunity. America will be left behind if it doesn’t change policy.

We’re just enthusiastic about what we do.

What interests me in life is curiosity, challenges, the good fight with its victories and defeats.

Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.

I’m hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure.

I don’t fight in chase of an individual. I hear this sometimes where fighters work their whole careers to reach a matchup with a certain individual. I do not think in that way.

I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars; there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that.

To do your best is no longer good enough. We now have to do the seemingly impossible.

Every man who has at last succeeded, after long effort, in calling up the divinity which lies hidden in a woman’s heart, is startled to find that he must obey the God he summoned.

Wealthy men can’t live in an island that is encircled by poverty. We all breathe the same air. We must give a chance to everyone, at least a basic chance.

It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.

That nice, soft pillow and the warm blanket, and it’s all comfortable, and no one wants to leave that comfort – but if you can wake up early in the morning, get a head start on everyone else that’s still sleeping, get productive time doing things that you need to do – that’s a huge piece to moving your life forward.

People tend to think that life really does progress for everyone eventually, that people progress, but actually only some people progress. The rest of the people don’t.

The battle is all over except the ‚shouting‘ when one knows what is wanted and has made up his mind to get it, whatever the price may be.

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.

People need motivation to do anything. I don’t think human beings learn anything without desperation.

If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.

I had a lot of success from the start. I never really was tested for long periods of time. I got my first professional job while I was a senior in college. I signed with the William Morris Agency before I graduated.

In order to become prosperous, a person must initially work very hard, so he or she has to sacrifice a lot of leisure time.

We have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education possible.

Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

Alas! You complain that your soul is out of tune. Then ask the Master to tune the heart-strings.

I always feel like it’s two key ingredients when it comes to following your dreams, making something happen that the average person deems difficult. If you truly believe it, that’s step one. Step two, is, you know, the hard work that goes along with it.

I look at where I’m at today and realize that most of my success is owed to the mentors that was in my life.

You have to feel confident. If you don’t, then you’re going to be hesitant and defensive, and there’ll be a lot of things working against you.

Those who believe that they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something.

I think my vice would be outdoing myself.

You must never be satisfied with losing. You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing. But the mark of the good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not his victorious opponents or on his teammates.

Desire is the very essence of man.

My songs are the door to every dream I’ve ever had and every success I’ve ever achieved.

Not having hope is not an excuse for not doing something.

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

The only shame is to have none.

All I ever wanted to do with my life was own a little house. I did that way back with ‚Rocky,‘ so now everything I do is just icing on the cake.