Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

We need an adult in the White House. When making life-or-death, war-or-peace decisions, a president can’t just pop off or lash out irrationally.

Listen; there’s a hell of a good universe next door: let’s go.

Hatred is inveterate anger.

If you’re a quarterback, you want everything on your shoulders. You want to be the one to make the decisions.

Some slaves are scoured to their work by whips, others by their restlessness and ambition.

You might win some, you might lose some. But you go in, you challenge yourself, you become a better man, a better individual, a better fighter.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

Human beings need stories, and we’re looking for them in all kinds of places; whether it’s television, whether it’s comic books or movies, radio plays, whatever form, people are hungry for stories.

The person we believe ourselves to be will always act in a manner consistent with our self-image.

Shame is the most powerful, master emotion. It’s the fear that we’re not good enough.

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.

Let’s just be smart this time. I’m looking for smart.

Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason.

The risk for me would be in not taking one – that’s the only thing that’s really risky for me.

We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting.

A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he’ll never crow. I have seen the light and I’m crowing.

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.

I never cut class. I loved getting A’s, I liked being smart. I liked being on time. I thought being smart is cooler than anything in the world.

To act is to be committed, and to be committed is to be in danger.

I just usually go with my own taste. If I like something, and it happens to be against the law, well, then I might have a problem.

Fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.

People disparage knowing and the intellectual life, and urge doing. I am content with knowing, if only I could know.

It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

Never mistake motion for action.

A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.

He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.

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.

Music is something no one can control.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.

Why should I be studying for a future that soon may not exist?

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

When I did have some success, it further emboldens you to be like, ‚No, I’m just going to write what I feel I should write.‘

Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.

The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: Be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge.

If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.

When I started out, I didn’t have any desire to be an actress or to learn how to act. I just wanted to be famous.

The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis.

Refuse to be a lazy Christian, and resist a passive, apathetic attitude.

Quitting doesn’t enter my mind.

Wisdom consists not so much in knowing what to do in the ultimate as knowing what to do next.

Study men, not historians.

Defined in psychological terms, a fanatic is a man who consciously over-compensates a secret doubt.

Of course it would be nice for everybody and myself if we could win but we can still have a personal or a team win if we achieve a target that is effectively a win for us.

In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.

I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. I’m really confused now.

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.

Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big.

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.

There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.

I wonder how many times people give up just before a breakthrough – when they are on the very brink of success.

Any man can call time out, but no man can say how long the time out will be.

Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic.

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes… and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.

When you’re 40, you can’t ride the fence anymore. You gotta make definite decisions about your life.

As far as I’m concerned, I’m a writer who’s writing books, and therefore, I don’t want to die. You’d miss the end of the book wouldn’t you? You can’t die with an unfinished book.

One of the more difficult tasks for me as president was to decide on the issue of confirming capital punishment awarded by courts… to my surprise… almost all cases which were pending had a social and economic bias.