I don’t want to hear the word ‚can’t.‘

Do whatever you will, but first be such as are able to will.

You fail only if you stop writing.

For most of us, wisdom is acquired in the thicket of experience and usually meets us somewhere along the way if we live long enough. But sooner is better than later.

Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

If you have passion, there is no need for excuses because your enthusiasm will trump any negative reasoning you might come up with. Enthusiasm makes excuses a nonissue.

Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dream.

The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another.

I would rather make my name than inherit it.

Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.

From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned.

I get up every morning and say, ‚Father, give me strength today, not strength so I can lift 500 pounds, but give me strength, Lord, so when I speak, my words might motivate, might inspire somebody, Lord, when they see me, let them see you. When they hear me, Lord, let them hear you. In your holy name I pray.‘

The possession of anything begins in the mind.

Sometimes people make it seem like you have to have certain prerequisites or a crazy life story in order to be successful in this world. But the truth is you really don’t.

Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.

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

My only fault is that I don’t realize how great I really am.

Stand a little less between me and the sun.

Not knowing when the dawn will come I open every door.

I’d like to think you don’t stop being creative once you get happy. My ultimate goal is to end up being happy. Most of the time.

Men do not shape destiny, Destiny produces the man for the hour.

Prayer doesn’t just change things – it changes us. If we are diligent in seeking God, slowly and surely we become better people.

But in truth, should I meet with gold or spices in great quantity, I shall remain till I collect as much as possible, and for this purpose I am proceeding solely in quest of them.

Feeling sorry for ourselves is the most useless waste of energy on the planet. It does absolutely no good. We can’t let our circumstances or what others do or don’t do control us. We can decide to be happy regardless.

It were a real increase of human happiness, could all young men from the age of nineteen be covered under barrels, or rendered otherwise invisible; and there left to follow their lawful studies and callings, till they emerged, sadder and wiser, at the age of twenty-five.

People tend to play in their comfort zone, so the best things are achieved in a state of surprise, actually.

I do all the evil I can before I learn to shun it? Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.

If every day you practice walking and sitting meditation and generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration and peace, you are a cell in the body of the new Buddha. This is not a dream but is possible today and tomorrow.

Stay hungry, stay foolish.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Resist the need to be ‚right‘ all the time or to always have the last word.

I’d rather be a victor than a victim.

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

It’s very difficult to regulate yourself, and if you learn to do that, well, it starts to spill over.

How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours.

Example is leadership.

To a profound pessimist about life, being in danger is not depressing.

Whenever things go a bit sour in a job I’m doing, I always tell myself, ‚You can do better than this.‘

Even if you have nothing to write, write and say so.

Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.

You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.

We spend our lives, all of us, waiting for the great day, the great battle, or the deed of power. But that external consummation is not given to many: nor is it necessary. So long as our being is tensed, directed with passion, towards that which is the spirit of all things, then that spirit will emerge from our own hidden, nameless effort.

No matter what has happened to you in the past or what is going on in your life right now, it has no power to keep you from having an amazingly good future if you will walk by faith in God. God loves you! He wants you to live with victory over sin so you can possess His promises for your life today!

The price of greatness is responsibility.

If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree.

If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.

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.

Attitude and enthusiasm play a big part in my life. I get excited about the things that inspire me. I also believe in laughing and having a good time.

God always wants us to be growing.

I believe that a trusting attitude and a patient attitude go hand in hand. You see, when you let go and learn to trust God, it releases joy in your life. And when you trust God, you’re able to be more patient. Patience is not just about waiting for something… it’s about how you wait, or your attitude while waiting.

However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.

It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself.

Partition is bad. But whatever is past is past. We have only to look to the future.

I think a certain amount of stress in life is good. The stress of just working, which takes effort – I think it keeps you going.

To learn something but not to do is really not to learn. To know something but not to do is really not to know.

I always was a rich person because money’s not related to happiness.

I haven’t been faithful to my own advice in the past. I will in the future.

I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.

We only need so much to survive, but this world we live in tells us we need more stuff to be happy. We’re inundated with our televisions, the Internet and advertising that says in order to be happy you have to have these things. When you say, ‚Gimme, gimme, gimme,‘ you will always be in short supply.

How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success.

Just do some kind of workout. Doesn’t matter if it’s going for a walk around the block, going for a jog, doing some calisthenics, lifting weights, going to a pool and swimming – you name it. But do something that gets your blood flowing and gets your mind in the game.