Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees.

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

Of course, there are those critics – New York critics as a rule – who say, ‚Well, Maya Angelou has a new book out and of course it’s good but then she’s a natural writer.‘ Those are the ones I want to grab by the throat and wrestle to the floor because it takes me forever to get it to sing. I work at the language.

Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.

Well, in order for me to be successful… In order to be a great artist – musician, actor, painter, whatever – you must be able to be private in public at all times.

Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.

I get so excited when a song I wrote that’s very personal to me goes No. 1 and I look down and see people singing the words back to me.

A man’s got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book.

Anything I do, I want to do it well.

All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.

If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun.

When it all got taken away, I was becoming a young man. So I had to sacrifice to leave my family… Sleeping in my car, getting an apartment for a month and getting evicted the next month. Staying in the $25, $50 hotels.

Time and the hour run through the roughest day.

I don’t know anything that builds the will to win better than competitive sports.

What’s amazing is, if young people understood how doing well in school makes the rest of their life so much interesting, they would be more motivated. It’s so far away in time that they can’t appreciate what it means for their whole life.

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.

Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.

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.

Nature knows no pause in progress and development, and attaches her curse on all inaction.

You cannot let where you are today cause you to get stuck. I’m going to be my best right now. That’s what faith is all about.

I break ground. I trailblaze.

Though men determine, the gods doo dispose: and oft times many things fall out betweene the cup and the lip.

Your most important work is always ahead of you, never behind you.

I’ve done everything I wanted to do, even if I have had to pay a very high price – which has been the case most of the time.

The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible.

It’s rule number one, really – beating your teammate.

The more you seek security, the less of it you have. But the more you seek opportunity, the more likely it is that you will achieve the security that you desire.

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

I always put myself out there. I’m not afraid to commit to something.

Find a job you like and you add five days to every week.

Only those who want everything done for them are bored.

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.

Finite to fail, but infinite to venture.

The truth is, anyone can start projects. The world is full of just-started projects that looked great at the time but were never completed.

Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.

Well, I think we tried very hard not to be overconfident, because when you get overconfident, that’s when something snaps up and bites you.

I’m committed to the fight game.

The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.

To remain a credible leader, I must always work first, hardest, and longest on changing myself. This is neither easy nor natural, but it is essential.

The future is like heaven, everyone exalts it, but no one wants to go there now.

You get one life. I’m going to embrace mine.

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

When you play, play hard; when you work, don’t play at all.

I will do this job as long as I feel that I can do it full steam.

You simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

When I signed up for BFC, then-coach Ashley Westwood wanted me to play on the left as an attacking midfielder. I was not sure initially but I believed in his vision. For the first six-seven games, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was like a headless chicken. But he kept backing me.

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

I do believe in self-help.

When I started Virgin from a basement in west London, there was no great plan or strategy. I didn’t set out to build a business empire… For me, building a business is all about doing something to be proud of, bringing talented people together and creating something that’s going to make a real difference to other people’s lives.

Sometimes, if you begin to sing in a halfhearted mood, you can sing yourself up the ladder. Singing will often make the heart rise.

In the successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention.

Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

I never woke up and thought, ‚I really want to live a bold life.‘

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.

You either make dust or eat dust.

We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets.

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.