And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.

A lot of people are focused on taking over the world or doing the biggest thing and getting the most users. I think part of making a difference and doing something cool is focusing intensely.

Talk that does not end in any kind of action is better suppressed altogether.

Comfort and luxury are usually the chief requirements of life for your ego – its top priorities tend to be accumulations, achievements, and the approval of others.

Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness, and its power of endurance – the cheerful man will do more in the same time, will do it; better, will preserve it longer, than the sad or sullen.

A people free to choose will always choose peace.

I won’t do something unless I can get at least two or three good laughs out of it. If I can’t, it’s not gonna make the team.

The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.

I’m kind of fascist with myself, you know.

There’s a reason why the Foo Fighters don’t blast out Nirvana songs every night: because we have a lot of respect for them. You know, that’s hallowed ground. We have to be careful. We have to tread lightly. We have talked about it before, but the opportunity hasn’t really come up, or it just hasn’t felt right.

The business aspect is one of the most important things about having a music career, because every choice you make in a management meeting affects your life a year-and-a-half from now.

On the court, I want to try and get to the free-throw line a little more. And as a point guard, you can always get better at your decision-making and limiting your mistakes.

When I’m writing, I don’t feel neurotic. So it’s better for the family if I’m working.

I realize I don’t do a very good job in keeping up to date, but I try to.

I like to do things quickly because I’m easily bored.

Writing is a dreadful labor, yet not so dreadful as Idleness.

Beautiful sentences pop into my head. Beautiful sentences that aren’t always absolutely accurate. Then, I have to choose between the beautiful sentence and being absolutely accurate. It can be a difficult choice.

When I write, I tend to twist my hair. Something for my small mind to do, I guess.

I don’t write policy for my government.

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.

I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me.

I bought a gun and chose drugs instead.

Do I wear a helmet? Ugh. I do when I’m riding through a precarious part of town, meaning Midtown traffic. But when I’m riding on secure protected lanes or on the paths that run along the Hudson or through Central Park – no, I don’t wear the dreaded helmet then.

I just hate meetings. Though it’s true that once you’ve made a lot of money, people around you might be full of ideas about ways to make lots more money and might be disappointed that you don’t want to seize every opportunity to do so.

I realized why directors are such horrible people – in a way – because you want things to be right, and people will just not listen to you, and there is no time to be nice to people, no time to be delicate.

Politics is like football; if you see daylight, go through the hole.

Better never than late.

When you’re 40, you can’t ride the fence anymore. You gotta make definite decisions about your life.

When you have two busy kids running around the house, returning e-mails is a task, let alone surfing the web.

While we are postponing, life speeds by.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

The last suit that you wear, you don’t need any pockets.

Most people who ask for advice from others have already resolved to act as it pleases them.

A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise shall give him no peace.

It’s a question of whether we’re going to go forward into the future, or past to the back.

It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

I focus on one thing and one thing only – that’s trying to win as many championships as I can.

Be pleasant until ten o’clock in the morning and the rest of the day will take care of itself.

Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.

It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.

In countries where innocent people are dying, the leaders are following their blood rather than their brains.

Never confuse motion with action.

I have so much that I want to do. I hate wasting time.

I would be stupid not to be on my own side. But I’m a human being, too. And I’m on the side of human beings, rather than on the side of crocodiles.

I don’t think I would run for president.

Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey ‚people.‘ People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war… Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest.

I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.

I would rather have peace in the world than be President.

Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books.

Concentration is one of the happiest things in my life.

For victory in life, we’ve got to keep focused on the goal, and the goal is Heaven.

I wonder how many decisions we make every day. I believe it’s probably hundreds. We decide whether or not to get out of bed, what we’ll eat, what we’ll do, what we’ll think about, what we’ll say… and on and on.

When I finish something, I want it out that day. Pop music is like the daily paper. Its got to be there then, not six months later.

We need an adult in the White House. When making life-or-death, war-or-peace decisions, a president can’t just pop off or lash out irrationally.

I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter.

When you begin to worry, go find something to do. Get busy being a blessing to someone; do something fruitful. Talking about your problem or sitting alone, thinking about it, does no good; it serves only to make you miserable. Above all else, remember that worrying is totally useless. Worrying will not solve your problem.

My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.

I’m bloody awful at multi-tasking.

Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.

Computers make me totally blank out.

The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.