Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow-men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed.

Fighting for one’s freedom, struggling towards being free, is like struggling to be a poet or a good Christian or a good Jew or a good Muslim or good Zen Buddhist. You work all day long and achieve some kind of level of success by nightfall, go to sleep and wake up the next morning with the job still to be done. So you start all over again.

For me, money is not my definition of success. Inspiring people is a definition of success.

Life is a journey. When we stop, things don’t go right.

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

A lot of people are afraid to tell the truth, to say no. That’s where toughness comes into play. Toughness is not being a bully. It’s having backbone.

From my childhood I had been intended for the clergy. This prospect hung like a dark cloud on my mind.

Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men must walk, at least, before they dance.

The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.

I can never say ‚why‘ about anything I do. I suppose I can say ‚how‘ and ‚when‘ and ‚what.‘ But ‚why‘ is impenetrable to me.

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.

It doesn’t matter where you come from, what you have or don’t have, what you lack, or what you have too much of. But all you need to have is faith in God, an undying passion for what you do and what you choose to do in this life, and a relentless drive and the will to do whatever it takes to be successful in whatever you put your mind to.

Yes, and I can sit down on a white piece of paper and work because I don’t believe too much into inspiration, only I’m waiting for inspiration, work and then inspiration may come. It’s a little too easy to say that.

Your Highest Self is not just an idea that sounds lofty and spiritual. It is a way of being. It is the very first principle that you must come to understand and embrace as you move toward attracting to you that which you want and need for this parenthesis in eternity that you know as your life.

All of us are guinea pigs in the laboratory of God. Humanity is just a work in progress.

I still wanna rap better than everybody else, and I wanna say important things.

We must be our own before we can be another’s.

No one has a right to consume happiness without producing it.

I never expected anyone to take care of me, but in my wildest dreams and juvenile yearnings, I wanted the house with the picket fence from June Allyson movies. I knew that was yearning like one yearns to fly.

Transformation literally means going beyond your form.

It is well for the world that in most of us, by the age of thirty, the character has set like plaster, and will never soften again.

It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.

The risk for me would be in not taking one – that’s the only thing that’s really risky for me.

I’m sure like everyone else I’m not always the happiest if I don’t do a good job in quali or the race or whatever, so I think beating myself up sometimes makes me work harder.

Do I have chocolate chip cookies? Yes, I do. Do I have mint chocolate chip milkshakes? Yes, I do. I love them. They are fantastic. But when I have them, they’re worth it. I earned them. I did something. I worked out super hard. I stayed clean on food.

There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.

The idea of going to school and getting a job is the most destructive one in your brain.

I’m a can-do girl.

There is only one way… to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it.

I don’t follow all the 48 laws. Like, I’ve never crushed anyone totally.

As a kid, I used to see how Sachin Tendulkar used to win matches under pressure for India in Sharjah or other places. So I was always keen to repeat the same in similar situations. I don’t take pressure on myself when I am in the middle. I love pressure, and I always believe that pressure makes you more focused.

I think I should learn French and be a better cook – basic, really good life stuff.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Lots of young players have triumphed at United, so why can’t it happen to me? I’m not worried I’m young – it’s an incentive to do the best I can.

If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn’t need motivation to speed him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.

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

Oh, God, I struggle with low self-esteem all the time! I think everyone does. I have so much wrong with me, it’s unbelievable!

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain – and most fools do.

I wanted to use my fame and this face that everyone knows so well to help uplift and inspire people around the world.

Life well spent is long.

I grew up where, when a door closed, a window didn’t open. The only thing I had was cracks. I’d do everything to get through those cracks – scratch, claw, bite, push, bleed. Now the opportunity is here. The door is wide open, and it’s as big as a garage.

We should learn to accept that change is truly the only thing that’s going on always, and learn to ride with it and enjoy it.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

The attempt and not the deed confounds us.

I’m not gonna be bad at anything, and I want to actually be the best at anything I’m doing. So if I’m playing basketball, if I’m taking the SATs, like, there’s a competitive spirit behind it. With production, it’s the same thing.

I brought myself down. I impeached myself by resigning.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.

In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.

There is no failure except in no longer trying.

Get mad, then get over it.

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

How could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?

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

A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.

Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.

The reason we want to go on and on is because we live in an impoverished present.

Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching.

But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That’s what I strive to do, that’s what I pray to do every day.

If at first you don’t succeed… so much for skydiving.