I’m glad a genre writer has got a knighthood, but stunned that it was me.

Becoming a ‚Sir‘ is slightly uncomfortable at first, although it is a considerable honor. It is amazing how quickly you become accustomed to it.

Believe it or not, I was just given an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Tennessee.

Growth is the great separator between those who succeed and those who do not. When I see a person beginning to separate themselves from the pack, it’s almost always due to personal growth.

No greater nor more affectionate honor can be conferred on an American than to have a public school named after him.

Just because I managed to do a little something, I don’t want anyone back home to think I got the big head.

When you are aspiring to the highest place, it is honorable to reach the second or even the third rank.

When art dresses in worn-out material it is most easily recognized as art.

I feel very lucky to make a living from my imagination; I’m very grateful for that. I like that what I do is create. I’m feeling very lucky to have had the career I had. It’s gone much longer and bigger than I ever thought it would be.

A great mind becomes a great fortune.

I started writing at the kitchen table after midnight. It took ten months to finish that first book; I sent it to a publisher and I got some kind of prize, so it was like a dream – I was surprised to find it happening.

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.

In 1993, Israel and North Korea were moving towards an agreement in which North Korea would stop sending any missiles or military technology to the Middle East and Israel would recognize that country. President Clinton intervened and blocked it.

I’ve been blessed to be somebody that’s been climbing that success mountain top for years of hard work, you know, but now it’s all connecting. And now, the whole world is watching, you know what I’m saying, and it feels good ‚cause it’s good energy. This is all positive vibes, and good vibes and good energy, so it feels incredible.

If you want to achieve something, you build the basis for it.

I have goals.

Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.

Successful people make money. It’s not that people who make money become successful, but that successful people attract money. They bring success to what they do.

If you look at anyone who has achieved great success and wealth, people like Warren Buffett, Oprah Winfrey, or Lance Armstrong, they have all focused intensely in order to win.

God will not look you over for medals degrees or diplomas, but for scars.

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

My reputation precedes me now.

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.

I’ve run the Boston Marathon 6 times before. I think the best aspects of the marathon are the beautiful changes of the scenery along the route and the warmth of the people’s support. I feel happier every time I enter this marathon.

I look at where I’m at today and realize that most of my success is owed to the mentors that was in my life.

Things won are done, joy’s soul lies in the doing.

We give speeches and pin ribbons onto uniforms, etch names into walls. And all that is fine, but too often, all those tributes, all those words aren’t always backed up by action. And that felt like such a stark contrast to me, because, as we all know, our military is all about action.

To be free is to have achieved your life.

Those who believe that they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something.

The starting point of all achievement is desire.

Be more dedicated to making solid achievements than in running after swift but synthetic happiness.

Anything you really want, you can attain, if you really go after it.

I always make my dreams into goals.

I am proud of having done what I’ve done. Very proud.

It is extremely difficult to say how long the process actually took to finally achieve my fragrance, Boudoir, because there was a lot of time waiting around for other people.

Ever since I started to get recognition I’ve picked out certain fans and reverse-stalked them.

Every man, and for stronger reasons, every artist, wants to be recognized. So do I.

Get place and wealth, if possible with grace; if not, by any means get wealth and place.

It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is.

People in Ethiopia, the Sudan, etc., don’t know Audrey Hepburn, but they recognize the name UNICEF. When they see UNICEF, their faces light up, because they know that something is happening. In the Sudan, for example, they call a water pump ‚UNICEF.‘

Happiness is within the reach of everyone, rich or poor. Yet comparatively few people are happy. I believe the reason for this is that the majority don’t recognize happiness even when it is within their grasp.

If I’d just tried for them dinky singles I could’ve batted around .600.

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

I like to think of Everest as a great mountaineering challenge, and when you’ve got people just streaming up the mountain – well, many of them are just climbing it to get their name in the paper, really.

I don’t want flowers or candy or anything like that. I just want somebody to say, ‚Wow, you’ve done a great job.‘

All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination, Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind energy into accomplishment and wealth.

I cook, I create, I’m incredibly excited by what I do, I’ve still got a lot to achieve.

Among physicists, I’m respected I hope.

If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.

There’s a lot of great movies that have won the Academy Award, and a lot of great movies that haven’t. You just do the best you can.

We had hundreds of thousands of people all dedicated to doing the perfect job, and I think they did about as well as anyone could ever have expected.

Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.

I’m the only person of distinction who has ever had a depression named for him.

What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.

Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war – for killing people. We received ours for entertaining other people. I’d say we deserve ours more.

It amazes me sometimes that even intelligent people will analyze a situation or make a judgement after only recognizing the standard or traditional structure of a piece.

Appraisals are where you get together with your team leader and agree what an outstanding member of the team you are, how much your contribution has been valued, what massive potential you have and, in recognition of all this, would you mind having your salary halved.

In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.

Each doctor makes a much, much more important job than I do, but at the end, nobody talks about him. We all know about it, but we don’t really think about it.

I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.