All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.

There were several possible solutions of the difficulty of classical electrodynamics, any one of which might serve as a good starting point to the solution of the difficulties of quantum electrodynamics.

Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There’s nothing to do but to stand there and take it.

The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.

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.

So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.

I mean… in life… what relationship is easy?

Every time you think the problem is ‚out there,‘ that very thought is the problem.

High-quality early-childhood programs and health coverage have expanded, and the number of mentoring relationships for at-risk youth has risen dramatically. That progress is encouraging, but it’s not evenly distributed.

I love Los Angeles, and it’s been very good to me, but if everyone is running around telling the stories, who’s living them? You don’t play characters that are celebrities – you play guys who know what to do when their septic tank’s blocked.

There are horrible people who, instead of solving a problem, tangle it up and make it harder to solve for anyone who wants to deal with it. Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.

You cannot push any one up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself.

I used to worry about every little thing, trying to figure out every problem. Well, I realize now how foolish that was. I was no more in control of my life than the man on the moon.

For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.

The Global Fund is a central player in the progress being achieved on HIV, TB and malaria. It channels resources to help countries fight these diseases. I believe in its impact because I have seen it firsthand.

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.

We live in ugly times.

I don’t need therapy. I’m not going to see a therapist; comedy acts as my therapy. I put my problems out there. I talk about them. I talk about everything before anybody has a chance.

I like the good life too much, I’m not good at going on stage night after night and on wet Wednesday afternoons.

I enjoy competition. I enjoy challenges. If a challenge is in front of me and it appeals to me, I will go ahead and conquer it.

Boot camp sucks – SEAL training sucks – but you know what? That’s what makes you good.

The problem with EMMA is that it is cost prohibitive for the small investors who were supposed to benefit from the new transparency.

You’ve got to vote, vote, vote, vote. That’s it; that’s the way we move forward. That’s how we make progress for ourselves and for our country.

Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress.

Until we’re educating every kid in a fantastic way, until every inner city is cleaned up, there is no shortage of things to do.

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

No weapon has ever settled a moral problem. It can impose a solution but it cannot guarantee it to be a just one.

Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all – the apathy of human beings.

I’d go to, like, six different schools in one year. We were on welfare, and my mom never ever worked.

You can’t say civilization don’t advance… in every war they kill you in a new way.

I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president – with the possible exceptions of Johnson, FDR, and Lincoln – just in terms of what we’ve gotten done in modern history. But, you know, but when it comes to the economy, we’ve got a lot more work to do. And we’re gonna keep on at it.

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.

My folks ain’t graduated from high school or nothing like that, so we always had to struggle in the family – and I come from a big family.

If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting.

I remain convinced that obstinate addiction to ordinary language in our private thoughts is one of the main obstacles to progress in philosophy.

The uncertainty of parenting can bring up feelings in us that range from frustration to terror.

Sometimes it seems as if there are more solutions than problems. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that many of today’s problems are a result of yesterday’s solutions.

The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite.

In a universe that’s an intelligent system with a divine creative force supporting it, there simply can be no accidents. As tough as it is to acknowledge, you had to go through what you went through in order to get to where you are today, and the evidence is that you did.

Any of us can be happy and have a good attitude when everything is going our way. But I believe it’s the real test of your character and of your faith to say, ‚Things are not going our way, but I’m still being good to people; I’m still attending church; I still have a good attitude.‘

I’ve seen how the issues that come across a president’s desk are always the hard ones – the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer.

Measures must always in a progressive society be held superior to men, who are after all imperfect instruments, working for their fulfilment.

My childhood did not prepare me for the fact that the world is full of cruel and bitter things.

I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.

You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead.

You don’t have the same mentality as you did five years ago – even one year. People are always changing, and I believe that everyone deserves the space to change and for people to recognize their change.

Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel.

Let’s face it. Umpiring is not an easy or happy way to make a living. In the abuse they suffer, and the pay they get for it, you see an imbalance that can only be explained by their need to stay close to a game they can’t resist.

The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down.

God tries you in certain, certain ways. Some people are rich, and they believe in God. They lose the money, things get hard, they get weak and quit going to church. Quit serving God like they did.

New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!

I have one yardstick by which I test every major problem – and that yardstick is: Is it good for America?

I’m not a good storm-outer… because I forget stuff.

To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.

Mediocre theoretical physicists make no progress. They spend all their time understanding other people’s progress.