I’m not going to get somewhere and say, ‚OK, I’m done.‘ Success is never final; I’ll just keep on going. The same way as failure never being fatal. Just keep going. I’m going to the stars and then past them.

The thing I always say to people is this: ‚If you avoid failure, you also avoid success.‘

Fame hit me like a ton of bricks.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

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

I think a certain amount of stress in life is good. The stress of just working, which takes effort – I think it keeps you going.

The greatest difficulty always comes right before the birth of a dream.

If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it – young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous – is changed by it.

There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.

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

Let man live at a distance from God, and the universe remains neutral or hostile to him. But let man believe in God, and immediately all around him the elements, even the irksome, of the inevitable organize themselves into a friendly whole, ordered to the ultimate success of life.

The music we do is for people to enjoy, dance and sing to it. Dreamers – keep on dreaming and keep working hard to achieve your goals. There are many difficulties, but what matters is to stay focused and have perseverance.

I always try to do as much as I can do. I’m never a person that does not enough, because I’d regret not doing enough and think I probably could have done more. I probably go too far and have to reel myself back in, which works in some things, and other things it doesn’t work.

I’ve got my Grammys on top of my piano and I look at them when I play.

But for me to have the opportunity to stand in front of a bunch of executives and present myself, I had to hustle in my own way. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was that they didn’t get that. No joke – I’d leave meetings crying all the time.

You know, T can stand for anything. T stand for working hard. T stand for loving thy neighbor. T stand for feeding the hungry. T stand for just working, working, working, being happy on the set, you know, lifting everybody’s spirits. T stands for just a nice guy.

Years ago I met Richard Burton in Port Talbot, my home town, and afterwards he passed in his car with his wife, and I thought, ‚I want to get out and become like him‘. Not because of Wales, because I love Wales, but because I was so limited as a child at school and so bereft and lonely, and I thought becoming an actor would do that.

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.

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.

Opera happens because a large number of things amazingly fail to go wrong.

I’ve been studying the Bible for a long time. I remember that after the first five years or so of diligently studying the Word, I didn’t feel like I had made any progress. There were a lot of things in my life that were out of order, and I didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.

We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor – got her master’s with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.

The idea that to make a man work you’ve got to hold gold in front of his eyes is a growth, not an axiom. We’ve done that for so long that we’ve forgotten there’s any other way.

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

I’ve had big record label presidents look me in the face and say, ‚Your music sucks, you don’t know who you are, your music is all over the place, and we don’t know how to market this stuff. Pick a lane and come back to us.‘

Not brute force but only persuasion and faith are the kings of this world.

I’m inspired by people who keep on rolling, no matter their age.

Every setback means you’re one step closer to seeing the dream come to pass.

There are a lot of inaccuracies out there when it comes to the SEAL training process. You will see guys carrying logs around on television. They think that the hardest part about being on a SEAL team is getting through that training. The fact of the matter is, if you have a good attitude, that training is fun. I had a blast.

There is one thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, and that is discipline. Because your dreams and your goals are not there waking up for you in the morning.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

The men I idolized built their bodies and became somebody – like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger – and I thought, ‚That can be me.‘ So I started working out. The funny thing is I didn’t realize back then that I was having a defining moment.

You have to dream before your dreams can come true.

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

You are victors, not victims!

An ass may bray a good while before he shakes the stars down.

I think whether you’re having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude.

It’s in the difficult times that we’re growing and you can’t just rebuke everything hard. We’ve got to endure it and fight the good fight of faith and pass the test.

Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.

The marvelous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.

I worked out early on to give up things I couldn’t do well at all.

Back in the day, what motivated me was overcoming myself. Now I believe in being a leader. I’ve done it all – I’m good. Now, it’s about setting an example for others to follow. I can’t just talk it – I have to live it.

If you have passion, there is no need for excuses because your enthusiasm will trump any negative reasoning you might come up with. Enthusiasm makes excuses a nonissue.

To keep the business going, you gotta keep it boomin‘.

One must work and dare if one really wants to live.

I believe that God’s dream is that we be successful in our careers, and that we be able to send our kids to college. I don’t mean that everyone is going to be rich, and I preach a lot on blooming where you’re planted. But I don’t have the mindset that money is a bad thing.

I’d have stopped writing years ago if it were for the money.

I’d sooner be called a successful crook than a destitute monarch.

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.

If you wish to be a writer, write.

One of the wonderful things about Oprah: She teaches you to keep on stepping.

In criticism I will be bold, and as sternly, absolutely just with friend and foe. From this purpose nothing shall turn me.

Every man has a right to be conceited until he is successful.

Alas! You complain that your soul is out of tune. Then ask the Master to tune the heart-strings.

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

The only failure one should fear, is not hugging to the purpose they see as best.

I don’t tell people, ‚You’re okay the way that you are.‘ That’s not the right story. The right story is, ‚You’re way less than you could be.‘