I want to go down in the history books with what I’ve achieved.

It’s a very good historical book about history.

As soon as I accomplish one goal, I replace it with another one. I try not to get too far ahead of myself. I just say to myself, ‚All right, well, I’d like to headline a tour,‘ and then when I get there, we’ll see what my next goal is.

I’ve noticed that when I am selling a lot of records, certain things become easier. I’m not talking about getting a table in a restaurant.

The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda.

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.

The real truths of life are never entirely new to you or to anybody because there is a level deep down within you where you already know all the things, all those spiritual truths that you read or hear, and then recognize them. I say ‚recognize‘ because you’re not… it’s not new.

Until you have cultivated the habit of saying some kind word of those whom you do not admire, you will be neither successful nor happy.

People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.

Working hard is very important. You’re not going to get anywhere without working extremely hard.

No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.

I went to a lovely school, and I got an incredible education. And I actually think that my education is what really sets me apart, ‚cause I’m very smart.

I think you can have 10,000 explanations for failure, but no good explanation for success.

I think the materialist conception of history is valid.

The age of chivalry is past. Bores have succeeded to dragons.

The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.

Having these colossal accolades and titles, they get in the way.

Excellence is a continuous process and not an accident.

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.

All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff.

No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it.

You need to overcome the tug of people against you as you reach for high goals.

Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.

Black or white good parts are hard to come by. A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity it doesn’t matter how good you are.

One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.

If you modestly enjoy your fame you are not unworthy to rank with the holy.

Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are impossible without feminine upheaval. Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included.

Think of yourself as on the threshold of unparalleled success. A whole, clear, glorious life lies before you. Achieve! Achieve!

If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you’re a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind.

Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.

In the past when I was in Hollywood, I was like a dog. I felt humiliated. My English was not good. People would even ask me ‚Jackie Who?‘.

When I look back at what I had to go through in black baseball, I can only marvel at the many black players who stuck it out for years in the Jim Crow leagues because they had nowhere else to go.

It’s a common misconception that money is every entrepreneur’s metric for success. It’s not, and nor should it be.

The history of all previous societies has been the history of class struggles.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars.

One has children in the expectation of dying before them. In fact, you want to make damn sure you die before them, just as you plant a tree or build a house knowing, hoping that it will outlive you. That’s how the human species has done as well as it has.

All black Americans have slave names. They have white names; names that the slave master has given to them.

What keeps me going is goals.

With all the… success that I’ve been lucky enough to get? That doesn’t happen unless the home life is solid.

Let the path be open to talent.

Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity.

I remember talking with Arcade Fire after their first record, when they were getting all kinds of offers from major labels, and I don’t think I gave them any advice. They survived that whole onslaught pretty well anyway without me.

This is a moment that I deeply wish my parents could have lived to share. My father would have enjoyed what you have so generously said of me-and my mother would have believed it.

I went to the museum where they had all the heads and arms from the statues that are in all the other museums.

With drive and a bit of talent, you can move mountains. I know. I’ve done it.

The secret to success is to offend the greatest number of people.

Positional leaders ignore the fact that every person has hopes, dreams, desires, and goals of his own. And leaders must bring their vision and the aspirations of the people they lead together in a way that benefits everyone.

I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.

I firmly believe that unless one has tasted the bitter pill of failure, one cannot aspire enough for success.

It always seems to me so odd that when a man dies, he takes out with him all the knowledge that he has got in his lifetime whilst sowing his wild oats or winning successes. And he leaves his sons or younger brothers to go through all the work of learning it over again from their own experience.

The important thing is that your teammates have to know you’re pulling for them and you really want them to be successful.

Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.

For a true writer, each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.

I’d done a lot of research in Hollywood and in academia. I love research and so I wanted to kind of ground the book in history, in things that I read that were universal and timeless and then kind of let my own experiences sort of filter through all of this history.

The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking.

You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile.

Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.

The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.