It was a personal decision for me to stand and say that cricket is all I have in life, there’s nothing I need to do other than cricket. If I want to achieve whatever I thought as a kid, I need to work hard and not let it go to waste.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

I grew up where, when a door closed, a window didn’t open. The only thing I had was cracks. I’d do everything to get through those cracks – scratch, claw, bite, push, bleed. Now the opportunity is here. The door is wide open, and it’s as big as a garage.

The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.

Art was, seriously, the only thing I’d ever wanted to own. It has always been for me a stable nourishment. I use it. It can change the way that I feel in the mornings.

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.

To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it’s digging deep, it’s doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms.

The incomparable greatness of the religions of the East lies in their having been second to none in vibrating with the passion for unity. This note, which is essential to every form of mysticism, has even penetrated them so deeply that we find ourselves falling under a spell simply by uttering the names of their Gods.

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.

It’s passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.

Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

I guess, taking away all the theatrics or the costuming and the outer layers of what I do, I’m a writer… I write.

Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.

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

Ambition has become a dirty word, and I believe it is a great evolutionary force for the positive. If people fail or go astray in their ambition I can live with it but not with people lowering their expectations, wasting time, slacking off and glorifying failure and stupidity.

I am in the fighting game. I don’t care about anything else. I don’t watch the news, I don’t care about politics, I don’t care about other sports. I don’t care about anything I don’t need to care about. This is my sport: it is my life. I study it; I think about it all the time. Nothing else matters.

I’m not going to limit myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else.

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.

Music helps me tell my story. That’s where I can really be heard. But there’s so much focus on the things that aren’t music.

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn’t know how to get along without it.

I dream of a church that is a mother and shepherdess.

In England, football is a big thing to talk about, but Liverpool, it’s a special place. You feel it when you make your first step.

Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith.

I never expected anyone to take care of me, but in my wildest dreams and juvenile yearnings, I wanted the house with the picket fence from June Allyson movies. I knew that was yearning like one yearns to fly.

What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.

The man who has the will to undergo all labor may win to any good.

To Marines, love of liberty is not an empty phrase… Rather, it’s displayed by blood, sweat, and tears for the fallen.

My purpose is to make exciting music, and I feel like I’ll be doing that for the rest of my life, so there’s no pressure.

The success I have achieved in bodybuilding, motion pictures, and business would not have been possible without the generosity of the American people and the freedom here to pursue your dreams.

Most of us aren’t defeated in one decisive battle. We are defeated one tiny, seemingly insignificant surrender at a time that chips away at who we should really be.

I always thought Johnny Carson was just brilliant, and I used to watch him and all the comics that would be on the show every night – and I’d dream about it being me.

Perhaps one day I will go into space.

I’ve sat in sushi bars, really fine ones, and I know how hard this guy worked, how proud he is. I know you don’t need sauce. I know he doesn’t even want you to pour sauce. And I’ve seen customers come in and do that, and I’ve seen him, as stoic as he tries to remain, I’ve seen him die a little inside.

Financial freedom is available to those who learn about it and work for it.

If a leader doesn’t convey passion and intensity then there will be no passion and intensity within the organization and they’ll start to fall down and get depressed.

The only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is to miss the train before.

And I love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it – when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost – Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. Just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward… with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.

I tend not to really think about what other people say. I’d rather just try and focus on what I’m doing, try and win basically.

So many writers don’t like to write… I like to write, and sometimes I’m afraid I like it too much, because when I get into work, I don’t want to leave it. And as a result, I’ll go for days and days and days without leaving my house.

At Columbia Law School, my professor of constitutional law and federal courts, Gerald Gunther, was determined to place me in a federal court clerkship, despite what was then viewed as a grave impediment: On graduation, I was the mother of a 4-year-old child.

Anything that encourages people to pick up an instrument and play, I’m fully behind.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look – for dizzier heights.

Music is my shining light, my favorite thing in the world. T get me to stop doing it for one second would be difficult!

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

I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.

Always take hold of things by the smooth handle.

As for accomplishments, I just did what I had to do as things came along.

Around every corner, always protect the engine that powers you.

I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.

Football is unconditional love.

At the end of the day, I understand that life has road blocks, and life is like school – you’ll be tested; we gotta pass it.

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.

Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.

Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.

Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.

There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.

Even after a bad harvest there must be sowing.

The way to know life is to love many things.