If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun.

The day you stop doing the small things is the day you think you’re above everybody else.

Your Highest Self is not just an idea that sounds lofty and spiritual. It is a way of being. It is the very first principle that you must come to understand and embrace as you move toward attracting to you that which you want and need for this parenthesis in eternity that you know as your life.

It is not living that matters, but living rightly.

It took me 40 years to write my first book. When I was a child, I was encouraged to go to school. I was not encouraged to follow the career of a writer because my parents thought that I was going to starve to death.

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

Begin – to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.

Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.

Where the mind goes, the man follows.

I think that once you’ve had a few No. 1s in your career that you’ve kind of proven yourself, and I don’t feel the need to prove anything anymore.

In inner-city, low-income communities of color, there’s such a high correlation in terms of educational quality and success.

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.

Never, and I mean never, allow anyone else’s ideas of who you can or can’t become sully your dream or pollute your imagination. This is your territory, and a ‚Keep Out‘ sign is a great thing to erect at all entrances to your imagination.

And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.

No matter what happens on the field, getting an education makes you a winner.

I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.

You can write any time people will leave you alone and not interrupt you. Or, rather, you can if you will be ruthless enough about it. But the best writing is certainly when you are in love.

You have to be someone.

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me.

Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.

Put it this way: If I asked, ‚How’s business?‘ and you say, ‚Boomin‘ or ‚Amazing,‘ I already know the answer.

Winning takes precedence over all. There’s no gray area. No almosts.

What you put into life is what you get out of it.

Life doesn’t require that we be the best, only that we try our best.

Be smarter than other people, just don’t tell them so.

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

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

If I’d been born ugly, you’d never have heard of Pele.

If cash comes with fame, come fame; if cash comes without fame, come cash.

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.

If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It’s a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting.

The best measure of a man’s honesty isn’t his income tax return. It’s the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.

Music can change the world because it can change people.

People disparage knowing and the intellectual life, and urge doing. I am content with knowing, if only I could know.

Let us be shy no longer. Let us go to our strength. Let us offer hope. Let us tell the world that a new age is not only possible but probable.

It must be quite mysterious to some people why I bother to carry on. Because, you know, I don’t sell that many records.

Keep a good attitude and do the right thing even when it’s hard. When you do that you are passing the test. And God promises you your marked moments are on their way.

We are always getting ready to live but never living.

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

We are never defeated unless we give up on God.

More people should read books. It’s the most concentrated experience you can have.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

Don’t be a spectator, don’t let life pass you by.

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

If you deserve it, go get it.

I always use Michael as, first and foremost, a vocal inspiration, and ‚Off the Wall‘ was definitely the one that made me feel like I could sing.

Bhai was my hero and he had immense influence on me.

Enjoy the satisfaction that comes from doing little things well.

The great thing about America is that you can come from the worst circumstances and become something remarkable.

I’m never gonna step away from stand-up. I can’t. That’s what got me where I am, and that’s also my muse. That’s how I stay level-headed. That’s what keeps me going.

Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.

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.

Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognize them, since that is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion.

My dear friend, clear your mind of cant.

You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.

Everyone I look up to is bringing me into the tech world. You’d be surprised by all the music people in it, invested in it.

Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out.

I vividly remember a conversation I had many years ago in 1974, which marked a turning point in my leadership journey. I was sitting at a Holiday Inn with my friend, Kurt Campmeyer, when he asked me if I had a personal growth plan. I didn’t. In fact, I didn’t even know you were supposed to have one.

With Kansas, I had a four-year deal. The initial two months were real tough. I had to adjust a lot. Then, things started looking up.