However my parents – both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.

There is always something infinitely mean about other people’s tragedies.

I’ve always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do.

What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support?

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us.

I always was that person who was hard on myself and challenged myself no matter what I was doing, whether it was passing third grade or playing basketball.

It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision.

I certainly know that I would not be able to survive if it were not for the fact that I am being upheld by the prayers of so many people.

The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk.

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Those who cannot work with their hearts achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success that breeds bitterness all around.

We have a big appetite for putting people down but, at the heart of everyone, there’s enough room for all of us to succeed.

Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.

I never admire another’s fortune so much that I became dissatisfied with my own.

I’m not the sort of person who gives up on things. The first time we crossed the Atlantic in the balloon, it crashed, and we went on and did the Pacific. First time we crossed the Atlantic in a boat, it sank, and we went on and got the record. So, generally speaking, we will pick ourselves up, brush ourselves down, and carry on.

The reward of a thing well done is having done it.

Aim for the sky and you’ll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you’ll stay on the floor.

Giving responsibility is the key to success with boys, especially with the rowdiest and most difficult boys.

The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.

I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.

Years ago, when I first started being a big star, I had fans that were fanatical. It was when ‚Jolene‘ was a big hit.

Anything you really want, you can attain, if you really go after it.

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

I feel impressed to counsel those engaged in personal challenges to do right. In particular, my heart reaches out to those who feel discouraged by the magnitude of their struggle.

We can fear things into existence. Fear looks into the future and imagines the worst that can happen.

Some men see things as they are, and say why. I dream of things that never were, and say why not.

When I think over what I have said, I envy dumb people.

You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile.

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

In this country, it doesn’t make any difference where you were born. It doesn’t make any difference who your parents were. It doesn’t make any difference if, like me, you couldn’t even speak English until you were in your twenties.

I’d rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

The battle is all over except the ‚shouting‘ when one knows what is wanted and has made up his mind to get it, whatever the price may be.

Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.

These young guys are playing checkers. I’m out there playing chess.

Nothing is more fearful than imagination without taste.

If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.

For me, there are two types of people: the young and the experienced.

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.

On a spiritual level, it’s as though with my sighted eye I see what’s before me, and with my unsighted eye I see what’s hidden. It’s illuminated life more than darkened it.

Misfortune shows those who are not really friends.

You start to become successful, and everybody starts to drive your money train to the bank, and they’re not thinking anymore about what you want as an artist or if any of that even matters to you. It genuinely upsets people in my life that I don’t care about money, and that’s not my problem.

Those parts of history that would undermine the vision of the Left – which prevails in our education system from elementary school to postgraduate study – are not likely to get much attention.

I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country’s cause.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

Building a mission and building a business go hand in hand. The primary thing that excites me is the mission. But we have always had a healthy understanding that we need to do both.

War does not determine who is right – only who is left.

I want to go and go, and then drop dead in the middle of something I’m loving to do. And if that doesn’t happen, if I wind up sitting in a wheelchair, at least I’ll have my high heels on.

Family and friendships are two of the greatest facilitators of happiness.

Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.

When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

Defeat doesn’t finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he’s defeated. He’s finished when he quits.

Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

In cricket, my superhero is Sachin Tendulkar. He has always been my hero and will continue to remain so. Apart from him and outside cricket, my mother has remained my inspiration. Whatever difficult time I had faced, she was always there for me. She has given me all the strength. She maintained her composure and supported me in tough times.

Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.

Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.

My success isn’t a result of arrogance – it’s a result of belief.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look – for dizzier heights.

Advice in old age is foolish; for what can be more absurd than to increase our provisions for the road the nearer we approach to our journey’s end.