Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred.

Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.

I think the foundation of everything in my life is wonder.

Sleep is the interest we have to pay on the capital which is called in at death; and the higher the rate of interest and the more regularly it is paid, the further the date of redemption is postponed.

Get off your butt and join the Marines!

Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don’t ever apologize for anything.

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

Be not simply good – be good for something.

Life’s a bit like mountaineering – never look down.

Every night on the court I give my all, and if I’m not giving 100 percent, I criticize myself.

I tried acting, liked it, and stuck with it. I saw it as the way I would keep that promise to myself of getting back at those who had made my school life a misery.

I can do no other than be reverent before everything that is called life. I can do no other than to have compassion for all that is called life. That is the beginning and the foundation of all ethics.

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.

Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.

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

If a man can… make a better mousetrap, the world will make a beaten path to his door.

Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.

If a man does his best, what else is there?

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

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.

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.

I think that at the start of a game, you’re always playing to win, and then maybe if you’re ahead late in the game, you start playing not to lose. The true competitors, though, are the ones who always play to win.

If you have the opportunity to play this game of life you need to appreciate every moment. A lot of people don’t appreciate the moment until it’s passed.

Someone said to me, ‚If fifty percent of the experts in Hollywood said you had no talent and should give up, what would you do?‘ My answer was then and still is, ‚If a hundred percent told me that, all one hundred percent would be wrong.‘

This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Really, you don’t lose until you stop trying.

An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

When I’m inspired, I get excited because I can’t wait to see what I’ll come up with next.

In seeking comfort, we generally find a quiet corner in life where there is a minimum of conflict, and then we are afraid to step out of that seclusion.

My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.

People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore.

If we’re going to bring out the best in people, we, too, need to sow seeds of encouragement.

Which death is preferably to every other? ‚The unexpected‘.

Religion is not a department of life; it is something that enters into the whole of it.

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

The chief condition on which, life, health and vigor depend on, is action. It is by action that an organism develops its faculties, increases its energy, and attains the fulfillment of its destiny.

A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.

I came, I saw, I conquered.

All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened.

If you don’t like what you’re doing, then don’t do it.

Don’t overact the story of your name. Overact the story of your work.

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?

Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.

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.

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.

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.

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

A man’s worth is no greater than his ambitions.

Winning is the most important. Everything is consequence of that.

Nowadays, manners are easy and life is hard.

Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed… Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

I couldn’t ever go back home without being something. I probably would never have gone back home. That was definitely a big motivation. To get back home, and not empty-handed.

God hangs the greatest weights upon the smallest wires.

I know Elon, we’re very like minded in many ways. We’re not conceptual twins. One thing I want us to do is go to Mars, but for me it’s one thing. He’s singularly focused on that. I think motivation wise, for me I don’t find that Plan B idea motivating. I don’t want a plan B for Earth, I want Plan B to make sure Plan A works.

You must take the compromise to win, or else nothing. That means: you race or you do not.

Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.