Every noble work is at first impossible.

I was 18 years old, and it was a dream come true for me to work out and eat great food for free. What else do you want in life? People think that is what it is like to be in a SEAL team, but it is less than a fraction of your career as a real SEAL.

Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.

The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.

Don’t be a spectator, don’t let life pass you by.

Your big opportunity may be right where you are now.

Richard Burton came from the same town as me, so I thought I’d follow my nose, and follow my luck. I think I’ve been very lucky.

There is a tendency for things to right themselves.

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

The real story of Facebook is just that we’ve worked so hard for all this time. I mean, the real story is actually probably pretty boring, right? I mean, we just sat at our computers for six years and coded.

Over a 10-year period, 99 out of 100 new entrepreneurs will fail. Only one will be left standing as others get pushed out of the market or burn out from working so hard. It’s really sad.

Anytime someone tells me that I can’t do something, I want to do it more.

Why do you want to get a good workout early in the morning? Well, because it sends more oxygen to your brain; it releases endorphins. It puts you in a state of mind where you can crush things, which is where you want to be.

Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.

We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans – because we can. We have some impulse within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings. That’s why we paint, that’s why we dare to love someone – because we have the impulse to explain who we are.

With Kansas, I had a four-year deal. The initial two months were real tough. I had to adjust a lot. Then, things started looking up.

Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way.

What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.

I try to make it look easy, but the behind-the-scenes stuff is the challenge.

There are 309 million people out there that are trying to improve their lot in life. And we’ve got a system that allows them to do it.

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.

Everywhere I go, the kids call me ‚the book lady.‘ The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the ‚book lady‘ title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I’ve done something good with my life and with my success.

Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.

One today is worth two tomorrows.

We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.

The good part about youngsters is that they are so fearless. You want to be like them.

When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, ‚Why god? Why me?‘ and the thundering voice of God answered, ‚There’s just something about you that pisses me off.‘

It’s not fun to get out of bed early in the morning. When the alarm goes off, it doesn’t sing you a song: it hits you in the head with a baseball bat. So how do you respond to that? Do you crawl underneath your covers and hide? Or do you get up, get aggressive, and attack the day?

To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it’s digging deep, it’s doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms.

People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure.

Whenever things go a bit sour in a job I’m doing, I always tell myself, ‚You can do better than this.‘

I promise you, I will have something on the Internet that is game-changing. I can’t lose.

If my films don’t show a profit, I know I’m doing something right.

A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.

Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction.

Do what nobody else can do for you. Omit to do anything else.

If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.

Quitting is the easiest thing to do.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

I have a good team. It’s good to have a good team.

It’s hard to tell with these Internet startups if they’re really interested in building companies or if they’re just interested in the money. I can tell you, though: If they don’t really want to build a company, they won’t luck into it. That’s because it’s so hard that if you don’t have a passion, you’ll give up.

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.

I never got into training to be an All-Ireland boxing champ or to win a belt. At the start, I just got into it to learn how to defend myself when I got into situations.

I’ve never met a genius. A genius to me is someone who does well at something he hates. Anybody can do well at something he loves – it’s just a question of finding the subject.

I’m not sure what you need first – the players believing or others believing in them – but in the end, both have to think it.

I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.

The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.

Successful people will always tell you you can do something. It’s the people who have never accomplished anything who will always discourage you from trying to achieve excellent things.

Finding good partners is the key to success in anything: in business, in marriage and, especially, in investing.

I look at where I’m at today and realize that most of my success is owed to the mentors that was in my life.

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

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 cook, I create, I’m incredibly excited by what I do, I’ve still got a lot to achieve.

I’d have stopped writing years ago if it were for the money.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.

What you don’t do can be a destructive force.

I think the reason my stories have been so successful is that I have a strong sense of metaphor.

Storms make trees take deeper roots.

Better to fight for something than live for nothing.