I love playing under pressure. In fact, if there’s no pressure, then I’m not in the perfect zone.

The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized – never knowing.

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.

I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.

I can’t do nothing just a little.

Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it… Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.

It’s easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm… in the real world all rests on perseverance.

The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation.

The thing that motivates me is a very common form of motivation. And that is, with other folks counting on me, it’s so easy to be motivated.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

When you are laboring for others let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself.

Every act you have ever performed since the day you were born was performed because you wanted something.

People want to feel hopeful.

You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.

In the dim background of mind we know what we ought to be doing but somehow we cannot start.

My dad was like a stage mother he always pushed me to do what I wanted.

However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?

Believe me, I’m much easier to be around when we win than when we lose.

If you ever go to a music session, you’ll notice that the musicians can sit down and start playing right away, and everyone knows what to do. Of course they’re reading it, but the conductor can tweak little things, and you can take that back to directing motion pictures.

I am only an average man but, by George, I work harder at it than the average man.

Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it.

That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day. The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win – you pass the test.

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.

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

The barriers are not erected which can say to aspiring talents and industry, ‚Thus far and no farther.‘

Your decision to be, have and do something out of ordinary entails facing difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.

Who’s to say what’s a good voice and not a good voice?

There is a tendency for things to right themselves.

It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees.

Off with you! You’re a happy fellow, for you’ll give happiness and joy to many other people. There is nothing better or greater than that!

I’m sure the feeling of fear, as long as you can take advantage of it and not be rendered useless by it, can make you extend yourself beyond what you would regard as your capacity. If you’re afraid, the blood seems to flow freely through the veins, and you really do feel a sense of stimulation.

As a father, I always want my son to be perfect. When he was young, I tried to train him in martial arts, but he said, ‚I don’t want to become like Bruce Lee’s son, with everybody telling me how good my father was.‘ I just think my son is too lazy.

Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.

The man of genius inspires us with a boundless confidence in our own powers.

If a subject excites us, if it stirs our deepest curiosity, or if we have to learn because the stakes are high, we pay much more attention. What we absorb sinks in.

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

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.

I love to play. And fortunately, I don’t know a lot of musicians that suck. I know a bunch of really good ones, and they’re always up for playing.

The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.

When things are going bad, don’t get all bummed out. Don’t get startled; don’t get frustrated. If you can say the word ‚good,‘ guess what? It means you’re still alive. It means you’re still breathing.

I didn’t want to become a professor or get tenure or teach or anything. All I wanted to do was get a degree because Louis Leakey said I needed one, which was right, and once I succeeded I could get back to the field.

If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.

A boy carries out suggestions more wholeheartedly when he understands their aim.

Enthusiasm is the most important thing in life.

It’s so easy to settle for less than God’s best for us because we don’t always feel like taking responsibility for our behavior or putting forth some effort to do what we need to do so we can accomplish great things for God and help people. But the cost of settling for less is actually harder than being completely obedient to God’s will.

It’s not fun to get out of bed early in the morning. When the alarm goes off, it doesn’t sing you a song: it hits you in the head with a baseball bat. So how do you respond to that? Do you crawl underneath your covers and hide? Or do you get up, get aggressive, and attack the day?

Everybody has a purpose.

Someone said to me, ‚If fifty percent of the experts in Hollywood said you had no talent and should give up, what would you do?‘ My answer was then and still is, ‚If a hundred percent told me that, all one hundred percent would be wrong.‘

You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.

It’s what counts, isn’t it, on the Sunday, rather than pre-season testing. If you lock up, you do a little mistake, it’s nothing, but if you do it on Sunday, you lose a place or you have to box for a flat spot or something like that. It’s a much bigger problem.

I think that when you are famous every weakness is exaggerated.

That is my wish, hope, instruction for all of you: Take your education seriously, okay? Always do that. Because I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my education.

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.

A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.

I promise you, I will have something on the Internet that is game-changing. I can’t lose.

Nothing is stopping me from doing what I love to do.

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.