Execute every act of thy life as though it were thy last.

Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

I don’t lose any sleep at night over the potential for failure. I cannot even spell the word.

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.

What is the use of writing plays, what is the use of writing anything, if there is not a will which finally moulds chaos itself into a race of gods.

Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it.

While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done.

The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.

Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.

A man of courage is also full of faith.

The ‚Maddox Jolie-Pitt‘ Foundation’s work is inspired by our children and their connections to particular countries.

Vanity is great motivation, to be fair.

If you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you’ll never write a thing because it will never arrive. I have no routine. I have no foolproof anything. There’s nothing foolproof.

Two things awe me most, the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.

You just don’t wake up one day and decide that you need to write songs.

My life is my message.

Competition is a sin.

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.

Let everything you do be done as if it makes a difference.

What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.

A day without laughter is a day wasted.

To reach a port, we must sail – sail, not tie at anchor – sail, not drift.

The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.

We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.

The power of intuitive understanding will protect you from harm until the end of your days.

Energy begets energy.

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.

To excel at the highest level – or any level, really – you need to believe in yourself, and hands down, one of the biggest contributors to my self-confidence has been private coaching.

Oh, the difference between nearly right and exactly right.

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

A quick temper will make a fool of you soon enough.

With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.

In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.

If you’re in this business and you are scared, then you better do something else.

If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

Sometimes I wonder why I’m a novelist right now. There is no definite career reason why I became a writer. Something happened, and I became a writer. And now I’m a successful writer.

You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.

The power of imagination makes us infinite.

Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.

Anger is wonderful. It keeps you going. I’m angry about bankers. About the government.

Control your own destiny! Control your own destiny!

The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain no matter what happens.

But when I hear a great song, I can’t help but be inspired by it, regardless of whatever genre that song falls under.

Our whole life is set up in the path of least resistance. We don’t want to suffer. We don’t want to feel discomfort. So the whole time, we’re living our lives in a very comfortable area. There’s no growth in that.

Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.

I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.

The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.

That service is the noblest which is rendered for its own sake.

Have you not noticed that love is silence? It may be while holding the hand of another, or looking lovingly at a child, or taking in the beauty of an evening. Love has no past or future, and so it is with this extraordinary state of silence.

If I’d had some set idea of a finish line, don’t you think I would have crossed it years ago?

My rule is to break one sweat a day.

Many people are alive but don’t touch the miracle of being alive.

The colonel replied that he didn’t care how my men had got the job done. He was happy that it had been accomplished. He said that, obviously, no matter how much or how little I knew technically, I was able to get the best out of people I worked with.

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

And winning is a huge thing for me.

I don’t let even a day go by wherein I don’t give at 100 per cent.

Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so.

My kind of composing is more like the work of a gardener. The gardener takes his seeds and scatters them, knowing what he is planting but not quite what will grow where and when – and he won’t necessarily be able to reproduce it again afterwards either.