I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion.

In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride.

Who has fully realized that history is not contained in thick books but lives in our very blood?

Vices are sometimes only virtues carried to excess!

He who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything.

I think so many people live their whole life in fear and doubt and shame.

We should seek the greatest value of our action.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

I don’t want to look sloppy, because then I feel sloppy.

Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.

We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we’ve chosen to do with our life.

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

We dissect failure a lot more than we dissect success.

I think the great part about what I do is that there’s a scoreboard. At the end of every week, you know how you did. You know how well you prepared. You know whether you executed your game plan. There’s a tangible score.

The big question about how people behave is whether they’ve got an Inner Scorecard or an Outer Scorecard. It helps if you can be satisfied with an Inner Scorecard.

Science is but an image of the truth.

The fatal metaphor of progress, which means leaving things behind us, has utterly obscured the real idea of growth, which means leaving things inside us.

One of the things I’ve told men over and over and over and over is if you’re being rejected by all the women that you approach, it’s not the women!

Right now, we don’t have a very good relation with creation.

The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.

Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn’t that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.

On the field, aggression can sometimes be a positive emotion. It boosts performance and can lift your game. But over the years, I have learnt that restrained aggression is a better animal. That way, you will conserve your energy and won’t spend yourself quickly.

I feel real good because it’s about representing the young world and how to uplift each other and how to push us to be greater and make sure we don’t fall or get trapped or get in trouble, you know what I mean. Stay focused, you know what I mean.

The only way you gain mental toughness is to do things you’re not happy doing. If you continue doing things that you’re satisfied and make you happy, you’re not getting stronger. You’re staying where you’re at. Either you’re getting better, or you’re getting worse. You’re not staying the same.

It’s more interesting for me to figure out how to be superior in areas where I’m naive, where I’m a novice.

He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.

I’m not the same man I used to be, I’m not out hell-raising, stuff like that. I am a changed man.

What I want for my fans and for the world, for anyone who feels pain, is to lean into that pain and embrace it as much as they can and begin the healing process.

A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.

I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.

Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.

The degree of one’s emotions varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts.

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.

It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read books of quotations.

The point – the power to hurt – of all figures lies in the truthfulness of their application.

Character is the result of two things: mental attitude and the way we spend our time.

There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.

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.

Those newspapers of the nation which most loudly cried dictatorship against me would have been the first to justify the beginnings of dictatorship by somebody else.

I have promised myself that I’m going to do everything I can for as long as I can.

Man, alone, has the power to transform his thoughts into physical reality; man, alone, can dream and make his dreams come true.

I was always taught not to answer no questions. I’m not really good at answering them because I get agitated so fast.

The pursuit of science leads only to the insoluble.

I have made a few mistakes early on that I admit myself, and there have been times when I have gone over the top and done things that you shouldn’t do in international cricket, but that’s how you learn.

He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.

I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.

Sometimes you have to take two steps back to take ten forward.

The proper study of mankind is books.

Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.

Thinking is a wonderful tool if it’s applied. Thinking, however, can not become the master. Thinking is a very bad master. If you’re dominated by thinking then your life becomes very restricted.

We rarely confide in those who are better than we are.

The only shame is to have none.

I’m always attracted to people who interest me. They’ve got to be people who are really true to themselves somehow, and who are always trying to do something that makes their life more interesting, or better, or something for somebody else. They’re interested in people.

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.

Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.

If a man does his best, what else is there?

I think writing really helps you heal yourself. I think if you write long enough, you will be a healthy person. That is, if you write what you need to write, as opposed to what will make money, or what will make fame.

Try and leave this world a little better than you found it, and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate, you have not wasted your time but have done your best.

By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.