But for me to have the opportunity to stand in front of a bunch of executives and present myself, I had to hustle in my own way. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was that they didn’t get that. No joke – I’d leave meetings crying all the time.

I have a great respect for incremental improvement, and I’ve done that sort of thing in my life, but I’ve always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don’t know why. Because they’re harder. They’re much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you’ve completely failed.

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else – means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.

Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting.

It’s stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.

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

I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone – and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward.

Each life is made up of mistakes and learning, waiting and growing, practicing patience and being persistent.

Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

I’ve had big record label presidents look me in the face and say, ‚Your music sucks, you don’t know who you are, your music is all over the place, and we don’t know how to market this stuff. Pick a lane and come back to us.‘

If you look at space companies, they’ve failed either because they’ve had a technical solution where success was not a possible outcome, they were unable to attract a critical mass of talent, or they just ran out of money. The finish line is usually a lot further away than you think.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

A strong man doesn’t have to be dominant toward a woman. He doesn’t match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world.

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

I believe God wants you to have money to pay your bills, send your kids to college and do charity work and build orphanages. There’s the teaching that we’re supposed to be poor to show that we’re humble. I don’t buy that. I think we’re supposed to be leaders. We’re supposed to excel.

It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.

You can tell the tree by the fruit it bears. You see it through what the organization is delivering as far as a concrete program. If the tree’s fruit sours or grows brackish, then the time has come to chop it down – bury it and walk over it and plant new seeds.

Changing your mind is probably one of the most beautiful things people can do. And I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things over the years.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

I learned a long time ago how to be coachable.

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels.

Didn’t get promoted? Good. More time to get better.

At the core, one of my original goals is to redefine what the streets expect.

History has proven that each generation of Howard graduates will forge the way forward for our country and our world.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.

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

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

Energy and persistence conquer all things.

The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation.

I’ll never make it, it will never happen, because they’re never going to hear me ‚cause they’re screaming all the time.

My life is a struggle.

A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.

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

What one has to do usually can be done.

Of course there are moments that you wonder how long you should be doing it because there are other aspects which are not nice, of this lifestyle. But I just love winning.

Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.

No sooner said than done – so acts your man of worth.

I’m no natural beauty. If I’m gonna have any looks at all, I’m gonna have to create them.

Start your diet during a period of optimism and happiness.

Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.

Your attitude towards failure determines your altitude after failure.

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.

I built a label at the same time I built a career.

We should not underestimate ourselves, because if lots of individuals go together then we can accomplish almost anything.

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

You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.

You know, when I have a bad game, it continues to humble me and know that, you know, you still have work to do and you still have a lot of people to impress.

Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.

I don’t think I would run for president.

The man never feels the want of what it never occurs to him to ask for.

When I was 8 years old I became a mute and was a mute until I was 13, and I thought of my whole body as an ear, so I can go into a crowd and sit still and absorb all sound. That talent or ability has lasted and served me until today.

Men must know their limitations.

As for accomplishments, I just did what I had to do as things came along.

These are the soul’s changes. I don’t believe in ageing. I believe in forever altering one’s aspect to the sun. Hence my optimism.

Throughout my 20s and early 30s, I had jobs that I loved. I worked in city government. I ran a youth organization. I served as an associate dean at a university. And I couldn’t imagine how a baby would fit into all of that.

In crises the most daring course is often safest.

Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.

A man must now swallow more belief than he can digest.

I’ve seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are. It reveals who you are.

Accept everything about yourself – I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end – no apologies, no regrets.