I believe the first test of a truly great man is in his humility.

The ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives.

I’m about being the best.

Leadership to me means duty, honor, country. It means character, and it means listening from time to time.

The learning and knowledge that we have, is, at the most, but little compared with that of which we are ignorant.

Men show their character in nothing more clearly than what they think laughable.

People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come in to the mind of others.

I’m not a god – I do bad things.

Any of us can be happy and have a good attitude when everything is going our way. But I believe it’s the real test of your character and of your faith to say, ‚Things are not going our way, but I’m still being good to people; I’m still attending church; I still have a good attitude.‘

Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.

Become aware of your own insufficiency.

Man can alter his life by altering his thinking.

It is not God’s will merely that we should be happy, but that we should make ourselves happy.

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.

Many people look at me and think they know me but they don’t at all. This is the real me. I am a humble person, a feeling person. A person who cares about others, who wants to help others.

I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.

So many people have this idea: I want to achieve something great or be somebody great. And they neglect the step that leads to greatness. They don’t honor this step at this moment because they have this idea of some future moment where they are going to be great.

It seems, in fact, as though the second half of a man’s life is made up of nothing, but the habits he has accumulated during the first half.

To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.

The only thing is, people have to develop courage. It is most important of all the virtues. Because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtues consistently.

Humility is to make a right estimate of one’s self.

Scrubbing floors and emptying bedpans has as much dignity as the Presidency.

The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.

Stay humble and be concerned for the less fortunate.

There is only one sort of discipline, perfect discipline.

Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.

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

Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail, but when I look at the subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself.

It is more difficult to rule yourself than to rule a city.

The U. S. Constitution doesn’t guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.

I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.

On Sundays when I speak, I hopefully give somebody something that they can use the next day at work or at home.

I’m really trying to dredge up what one might call intellectual and moral material. For example, when do you realize that you are an American? What age does that happen to you? When do you realize what religion your parents practice? When does it all become conscious? I was interested in exploring all of that.

Everybody has talent, it’s just a matter of moving around until you’ve discovered what it is.

A gentleman would be ashamed should his deeds not match his words.

Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

I think people take me as seriously as I want them to. They take me as seriously as I take myself – let’s put it that way.

The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately… you usually don’t use it at all. It uses you.

I’m going to use all my tools, my God-given ability, and make the best life I can with it.

I am not the humblest person in the world. I admit that.

No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

No man who worships education has got the best out of education… Without a gentle contempt for education no man’s education is complete.

Joanne‘ is a progression for me. It was about going into the studio and forgetting that I was famous.

A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

People who don’t know the true character of God – who don’t believe He is merciful, gracious and slow to anger – can never have a close, personal, intimate relationship with Him.

Power is like being a lady… if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.

I know I do not exaggerate, unconsciously and unintentionally, the scantiness of my resources and the difficulty of my life… I know that, but for the mercy of God, I might easily have been, for any care that was taken of me, a little robber or a vagabond.

Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.

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

I feel you’re in charge of your own situation.

There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and satisfactorily to myself; but I believe that it is in my power to elevate myself this very hour above the common level of my life.

Self-respect knows no considerations.

I never let schooling interfere with my education.

I do not see myself as a celebrity or an icon or things like that… I have not really done anything.

If you wish to achieve worthwhile things in your personal and career life, you must become a worthwhile person in your own self-development.

What my character is or how many jails I have lounged in, or wards or walls or wassails, how many lonely-heart poetry readings I have dodged, is beside the point. A man’s soul or lack of it will be evident with what he can carve upon a white sheet of paper.

‚Worry‘ is a word that I don’t allow myself to use.

I’m just like you – I want to be a good human being. I’m doing my best, and I’m working at it. And I’m trying to be a Christian. I’m always amazed when people walk up to me and say, ‚I’m a Christian.‘ I always think, ‚Already? You’ve already got it?‘ I’m working at it. And at my age, I’ll still be working at it at 96.

If you have the insight of non-self, if you have the insight of impermanence, you should make that insight into a concentration that you keep alive throughout the day. Then what you say, what you think, and what you do will then be in the light of that wisdom and you will avoid making mistakes and creating suffering.