Ambition is pitiless. Any merit that it cannot use it finds despicable.

The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend to do what I then did – which was to hide.

Success in its highest and noblest form calls for peace of mind and enjoyment and happiness which come only to the man who has found the work that he likes best.

Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.

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

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.

No man can succeed in a line of endeavor which he does not like.

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed.

You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.

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

Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.

It confuses me and disappoints me when somebody says, ‚What does he do? What does he do?‘ My records are some of the biggest anthems ever. What do you think, they magically just appear? Obama walked out to my record.

‚Victory‘ is like, you won, so the question is, what? What did you win? I think that the songs go into that. It’s just about reaching a place in myself.

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

My problem is I am Christian, so I think other people must have success, too; it’s not about me.

I take inspiration from everyone and everything. I’m inspired by current champions, former champions, true competitors, people dedicated to their dream, hard workers, dreamers, believers, achievers.

That service is the noblest which is rendered for its own sake.

We are not retreating – we are advancing in another direction.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

I want to let you in on a little secret: I don’t always feel like I’m a success. That’s right. There are plenty of times when I feel like I’ve just totally messed up and failed to connect with the people I’m trying to communicate with.

I had noticed that many of these successful people, historical and contemporary, shared certain common traits. They had a way of thinking that was exceptionally fluid; they could adapt to almost any circumstance; when confronted with problems, they could look at them from novel perspectives and solve them.

When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.

Some slaves are scoured to their work by whips, others by their restlessness and ambition.

What life half gives a man, posterity gives entirely.

We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.

Every setback means you’re one step closer to seeing the dream come to pass.

Work aside, we come to New York for the possibility of interaction and inspiration.

My goal is to be number one in MMA.

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

We will be more successful in all our endeavors if we can let go of the habit of running all the time, and take little pauses to relax and re-center ourselves. And we’ll also have a lot more joy in living.

One thing that I find very unmotivating is the kind of Plan B argument: when Earth gets destroyed, you want to be somewhere else. That doesn’t work for me. We have sent robotic probes now to every place in the solar system, and this is the best one.

If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.

I have won this lottery. It’s a gigantic lottery, and it’s called Amazon.com. And I’m using my lottery winnings to push us a little further into space.

I can die a happy man never having been president of the United States of America. But it doesn’t mean I won’t run.

You’ve got to go out on a limb sometimes because that’s where the fruit is.

Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.

Great geniuses have the shortest biographies.

Maybe other people will try to limit me but I don’t limit myself.

I went through every emotion with tryna pursue what I’m doing, you know what I mean? And I think what’s gon‘ separate whoever’s gon go for something, that you ain’t gon‘ quit.

If you lose a big fight, it will worry you all of your life. It will plague you – until you get your revenge.

Aim for the highest.

If you choose to do something, attack it. You can hate me, but there’s one thing you can’t say about me – that I didn’t attack it.

I think if I keep working in the way that I am, from the heart and from passion and with love, well, the fruits of that will keep coming.

The secret to success is to offend the greatest number of people.

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.

No man is ever whipped until he quits in his own mind.

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.

He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

I’ve been so blessed to play for the greatest coach at a time when our organization has done incredible things. I’ve played with the best teammates. Playing for Mr. Kraft and what his influence on the team has been.

In action a great heart is the chief qualification. In work, a great head.

If people take anything from my music, it should be motivation to know that anything is possible as long as you keep working at it and don’t back down.

To me, if life boils down to one thing, it’s movement. To live is to keep moving.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.

When I used to play sports, I’d be the one cheering the team on, ‚Come on, we can beat these guys!‘ That’s just in me.