Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly, even if they roll a few stones upon it.

Let a man who has to make his fortune in life remember this maxim: Attacking is the only secret. Dare and the world yields, or if it beats you sometimes, dare it again and you will succeed.

I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.

Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.

Why is it that although it takes us years to get into our messes, we expect God to get us out of them in a few days?

Shrinking away from death is something unhealthy and abnormal which robs the second half of life of its purpose.

I was a fighting machine with a will of iron.

I wanted to write when I was young, but people said it was impossible. Then my parents locked me in a mental institution – they said I was crazy and would never make a living from writing.

We can take a ‚It was hard to get there.‘ But we ain’t taking no loss. We’re going to win.

I think that’s why my career is going to be so long: Because I haven’t given people everything.

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.

Sometimes if you got a problem deep rooted in your life, it takes a little bit of time to overcome it in that area.

Obstinacy is the result of the will forcing itself into the place of the intellect.

The thornbush is the old obstacle in the road. It must catch fire if you want to go further.

Will power is to the mind like a strong blind man who carries on his shoulders a lame man who can see.

Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose.

If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.

I don’t want to be something that just comes and goes.

That’s when you know you’re the greatest: when you’re the greatest, and people still put odds against you.

My attitude has always been, if you fall flat on your face, at least you’re moving forward. All you have to do is get back up and try again.

The ninety and nine are with dreams, content but the hope of the world made new, is the hundredth man who is grimly bent on making those dreams come true.

Sometimes you must suffer through something to defeat your fear of it.

I love the name of honor, more than I fear death.

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.

You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That’s how you know you’re still alive.

There is no failure except in no longer trying.

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

He who laughs best today, will also laughs last.

My reputation grows with every failure.

I decided to pursue music, so I dropped out of school and I told my parents I didn’t want any money from them. I got three jobs and I just hit the ground running.

A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.

It is better to risk starving to death then surrender. If you give up on your dreams, what’s left?

We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us.

People have to go through trials and tribulations to get where they at. Do your thing – continue to rock it – because obviously, God wants you here.

You have to be smart. The easy days are over.

To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity.

I’ll never, ever be full. I’ll always be hungry. Obviously, I’m not talking about food. Growing up, I had nothing for such a long time. Someone told me a long time ago, and I’ve never forgotten it, ‚Once you’ve ever been hungry, really, really hungry, then you’ll never, ever be full.‘

I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night, ‚There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me dreaming of being a movie star.‘ But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.

I belong to a gospel choir. They know I am an atheist but they are very tolerant.

With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.

All religions must be tolerated… for every man must get to heaven in his own way.

I’ve never thought about any kind of prejudice about women in country music because I never felt like it affected me. I was fortunate enough to come about in a time when I didn’t feel that kind of energy at all, and it was always my theory that if you want to play in the same ballgame as the boys, you’ve got to work as hard as them.

From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

Anyone can have a good day, but you have to be able to perform on a bad day.

Necessity is the mother of taking chances.

Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.

When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life’s path.

I have a message to give to the world, and I shall not be thwarted.

People in tough times – it doesn’t mean they don’t have a great attitude.

Never despair, but if you do, work on in despair.

If you tell me there’s something I can’t do, I’ll want to do it even more. Especially when it comes to entertaining.

You accept that this civilisation could be abolished and life will begin later on after a few thousand years because that is something that has happened in the history of this planet. When you have peace in yourself and accept, then you are calm enough to do something, but if you are carried by despair there is no hope.

I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.

On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit.

In difficult times, we’re not supposed to quit believing; we’re not supposed to quit growing.

Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.

The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.

When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.