It is no good getting furious if you get stuck. What I do is keep thinking about the problem but work on something else. Sometimes it is years before I see the way forward. In the case of information loss and black holes, it was 29 years.

It has not yet become obvious to me that there’s no real problem. I cannot define the real problem; therefore, I suspect there’s no real problem, but I’m not sure there’s no real problem.

Quitting doesn’t enter my mind.

The best way out of a difficulty is through it.

There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.

While we may lose heart, we never have to lose hope.

There are no black holes in the sense of regimes from which light can’t escape to infinity.

I realized why directors are such horrible people – in a way – because you want things to be right, and people will just not listen to you, and there is no time to be nice to people, no time to be delicate.

I don’t have a magic formula for prioritizing the world’s problems.

It is very difficult to get people to focus on the most important things when you’re in boom times.

I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.

I’ve had all six of my books reach the New York Times bestseller list, which is especially rewarding seeing as I flunked out of high school twice because I couldn’t write. It just goes to show you that we learn from our mistakes.

Necessity… the mother of invention.

Patience is key for getting over a breakup. That, and trailing off your interaction after the breakup.

No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education.

We seem gradually to be groping toward an understanding of the world of subatomic particles, but we really do not know how far we have yet to go in this task.

The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not.

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.

No man goes before his time – unless the boss leaves early.

Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.

Bottom line: God will not allow any person to keep you from your destiny. They may be bigger, stronger, or more powerful, but God knows how to shift things around and get you to where you’re supposed to be.

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

One always has time enough, if one will apply it well.

Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.

You can’t have it all all at once. Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all, but in given periods in time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it.

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.

Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem.

Certainly it is valuable to a trained writer to crash in an aircraft which burns. He learns several important things very quickly. Whether they will be of use to him is conditioned by survival. Survival, with honor, that outmoded and all-important word, is as difficult as ever and as all-important to a writer.

We must use time creatively.

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.‘

I was born in Harlem, raised in the South Bronx, went to public school, got out of public college, went into the Army, and then I just stuck with it.

Tomorrow, every Fault is to be amended; but that Tomorrow never comes.

By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man’s, I mean.

I’m committed to the fight game.

Time is the least thing we have of.

Writing is my love. If you love something, you find a lot of time. I write for two hours a day, usually starting at midnight; at times, I start at 11.

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

Well, I wouldn’t say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.

To help a friend in need is easy, but to give him your time is not always opportune.

When a person is going through hell, and she encounters someone who went through hellish hell and survived, then she can say, ‚Mine is not so bad as all that. She came through, and so can I.‘

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

He that rises late must trot all day.

The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.

A pint of sweat, saves a gallon of blood.

While we are postponing, life speeds by.

Women in particular need to keep an eye on their physical and mental health, because if we’re scurrying to and from appointments and errands, we don’t have a lot of time to take care of ourselves. We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own ‚to do‘ list.

If you try to fight the course, it will beat you.

When we make progress quickly, it feeds our emotions. Then, when there’s a period of waiting or we hit a plateau, we find out how committed we really are and whether we’re going to see things through to the finish or quit.

Difficulties should act as a tonic. They should spur us to greater exertion.

A veteran journalist has never had time to think twice before he writes.

In a lot of ways, success is much harder than I thought it would be. I figured that you’d get here and then everything would be happily ever after. But, it’s hard work, almost harder once you’re successful because you’ve got to maintain it.

We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.

If I get stuck, I look at a book that tells me how someone else did it. I turn the pages, and then I say, ‚Oh, I forgot that bit,‘ then close the book and carry on. Finally, after you’ve figured out how to do it, you read how they did it and find out how dumb your solution is and how much more clever and efficient theirs is!

Many a man thinks he is patient when, in reality, he is indifferent.

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

That is why, no matter how desperate the predicament is, I am always very much in earnest about clutching my cane, straightening my derby hat and fixing my tie, even though I have just landed on my head.

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

Leisure is the time for doing something useful. This leisure the diligent person will obtain the lazy one never.

The only way round is through.