Black or white good parts are hard to come by. A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity it doesn’t matter how good you are.

The boy who is going to make a great man must not make up his mind merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses and defeats.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer to your goal.

It’s a rule to give all, and it can make the difference if you work more. If you don’t have to give all, and you still win, what’s this?

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.

The highly functional infrastructure that surrounds us, particularly in the West, is a gift from our ancestors: the comparatively uncorrupt political and economic systems, the technology, the wealth, the lifespan, the freedom, the luxury, and the opportunity.

Everybody accuses me of moving fast when I direct a picture. I don’t move fast, but I just keep moving.

Whatever you do, do with all your might.

The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure.

In business, success often depends upon the relative age of your ideas.

Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event.

He who wishes to be rich in a day will be hanged in a year.

Hollywood has a way of making everything seem like an overnight success.

I want to be an Asian Robert De Niro.

Until you have formed the habit of looking for the good instead of the bad there is in others, you will be neither successful nor happy.

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

Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

Surface R&B doesn’t work any more. The whole heartthrob thing, songs about unrealistic love and tearing your shirt off every show – that’s not really where it’s at any more. It’s becoming harder for those guys to sell records, and harder for them to succeed.

The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world.

An ass may bray a good while before he shakes the stars down.

Never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place – that is, the unique you. Have an aim in life, continuously acquire knowledge, work hard, and have perseverance to realise the great life.

They talk about the failure of socialism but where is the success of capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America?

Whatever you want to do, do with full passion and work really hard towards it. Don’t look anywhere else. There will be a few distractions, but if you can be true to yourself, you will be successful for sure.

When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to reach the second or even the third rank.

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.

Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.

Shun no toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other; yet do not devote yourself to one branch exclusively. Strive to get clear notions about all. Give up no science entirely; for science is but one.

To keep the business going, you gotta keep it boomin‘.

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

I want to thank God, obviously for the health, for the talent He’s given me, for my family who supports me, for the things that basketball’s taught me on and off the court. For the people that I’ve been able to meet through the game of basketball.

I wonder how many times people give up just before a breakthrough – when they are on the very brink of success.

A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.

The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk.

Working hard is very important. You’re not going to get anywhere without working extremely hard.

What I’m asking for is hard. It’s easier to be cynical; to accept that change isn’t possible, and politics is hopeless, and to believe that our voices and actions don’t matter. But if we give up now, then we forsake a better future.

There is no way to prosperity, prosperity is the way.

This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble.

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

I’ve made money, and I’ve been ripped off. I’ve had creative freedom, and I’ve been pressured to make hits. I have dealt with diva behavior from crazy musicians, and I have seen genius records by wonderful artists get completely ignored. I love music. I always will.

What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life.

I came, I saw, I conquered.

I’ve been blessed in that regard through and through. So I’m just thankful for this opportunity to play the game that I love and share that with the world.

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.

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.

Actors I admire? Ed Harris, or course, I think he’s terrific; because I know he always had to fight being what he looked like a lot, but I think he’s a terrific actor.

We all know we have a finite period of time. I just feel if I’m going to be alive, I want to be challenged – to be as immortal as possible. The path to that isn’t an easy way, but it’s a rewarding way.

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.

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

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

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

Well begun is half done.

I have dreams, and I want to see them come to fruition.

Real firmness is good for anything; strut is good for nothing.

I don’t want no handouts. I want to get it out the mud.

Stupidity is a talent for misconception.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

Competitions are a business, first and foremost.

If you sit there and have that mentality of ‚triple down on what you’re good at,‘ you’re never going to grow. You’re always going to stay the same.

Ideas are the beginning points of all fortunes.