Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.

Racing, competing, it’s in my blood. It’s part of me, it’s part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else.

I would storm the gates of Hell if Third Marine Air Wing was overhead.

Until we’re educating every kid in a fantastic way, until every inner city is cleaned up, there is no shortage of things to do.

A hundred struggle and drown in the breakers. One discovers the new world. But rather, ten times rather, die in the surf, heralding the way to that new world, than stand idly on the shore.

For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.

Boot camp sucks – SEAL training sucks – but you know what? That’s what makes you good.

If you are surrounded by your competition and you are outworking these people, outmaneuvering these people, it’s hard not to let your confidence take over. It just builds and builds and builds.

Desperation is sometimes as powerful an inspirer as genius.

It’s true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it.

When you begin to worry, go find something to do. Get busy being a blessing to someone; do something fruitful. Talking about your problem or sitting alone, thinking about it, does no good; it serves only to make you miserable. Above all else, remember that worrying is totally useless. Worrying will not solve your problem.

I believe it is universally understood and acknowledged that all men will ever act correctly, unless they have a motive to do otherwise.

Of course, ‚I Will Always Love You‘ is the biggest song so far in my career. I’m famous for several, but that one has been recorded by more people and made me more money, I think, than all of them. But that song did come from a true and deep place in my heart.

Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.

When I prepare, I am not messing around. I find the right places, the right people, and the right environment. Iceland is one of those places.

Wow, I get to wake up again? Ok. You have to make good with what you’ve got.

A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.

Never was anything great achieved without danger.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

The confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord’s mercy motivates us to do better.

If you continue to keep low performers on your team, that are actually dragging the team down; you’re failing the whole team, and eventually, the whole team is going to fail.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

When nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.

We are going to transform Britain’s rail system from the worst in the world to the best. If you can do a few things like that, when the body gives out, you can say you’ve lived a good life.

At the end of 2003, my game was complete. Shooting, defense, using the dribble, transition, midrange stuff was all there. Then it was about fine-tuning and trying to improve in each area.

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.

If you think the United States has stood still, who built the largest shopping center in the world?

Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.

A word of encouragement from a teacher to a child can change a life. A word of encouragement from a spouse can save a marriage. A word of encouragement from a leader can inspire a person to reach her potential.

I don’t believe I’ll ever get credit for anything I do in foreign affairs, no matter how successful it is, because I didn’t go to Harvard.

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.

It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, ‚always do what you are afraid to do.‘

The one thing about the business of entertainment is that you have to learn patience.

All I ever wanted to do with my life was own a little house. I did that way back with ‚Rocky,‘ so now everything I do is just icing on the cake.

There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.

I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.

I’d rather be a victor than a victim.

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

What starts the process, really, are laughs and slights and snubs when you are a kid. If your anger is deep enough and strong enough, you learn that you can change those attitudes by excellence, personal gut performance.

Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.

I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience.

Often, in the real world, it’s not the smart that get ahead but the bold.

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.

Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.

I dwell in possibility.

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

What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope.

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.

All great achievements require time.

All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be so treated.

Success is not a stop sign.

The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

Never, and I mean never, allow anyone else’s ideas of who you can or can’t become sully your dream or pollute your imagination. This is your territory, and a ‚Keep Out‘ sign is a great thing to erect at all entrances to your imagination.

There will be days when I walk in an arena and people will cheer and then there might be days when I walk in an arena and people might boo, but it all sounds the same to me because it’s all just noise that lets me know that I’m relevant.

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.

If you are the kind of person who is waiting for the ‚right‘ thing to happen, you might wait for a long time. It’s like waiting for all the traffic lights to be green for five miles before starting the trip.

It is not possible for civilization to flow backwards while there is youth in the world. Youth may be headstrong, but it will advance it allotted length.