It’s never paid to bet against America. We come through things, but its not always a smooth ride.

I’m the most stubborn person I know.

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.

Every time I think that I’m getting old, and gradually going to the grave, something else happens.

In soloing – as in other activities – it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.

I’ve said many a time that I think the Un-American Activities Committee in the House of Representatives was the most un-American thing in America!

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I, therefore, intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt.

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.

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.

America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.

I have only one yardstick by which I test every major problem – and that yardstick is: Is it good for America?

Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of.

We have the tendency to run away from suffering and to look for happiness. But, in fact, if you have not suffered, you have no chance to experience real happiness.

When I was 8 years old I became a mute and was a mute until I was 13, and I thought of my whole body as an ear, so I can go into a crowd and sit still and absorb all sound. That talent or ability has lasted and served me until today.

The thornbush is the old obstacle in the road. It must catch fire if you want to go further.

There is no education like adversity.

What is normal? Normal was yesterday. If you lose a leg, one day you’re hopping around on one leg, so you know the difference.

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.

A person will sometimes devote all his life to the development of one part of his body – the wishbone.

There ought to be an artistic depot where the artist need only hand in his artwork in order to receive what he asks for. As things are, one must be half a business man, and how can one understand – good heavens! – that’s what I really call troublesome.

The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerance. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors, and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.

No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.

Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends very little on office supplies.

If you are born an artist, you have no choice but to fight to stay an artist.

Do something everyday for no other reason than you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.

Our friends at the Republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right. They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan.

God helps those who help themselves.

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

Even the most seemingly unpleasant situations – if you become aligned with it, something good will emerge from that.

Frustration is a sign I am acting independently. The more you try your own way, the tighter the doors will stay closed.

I think you can have 10,000 explanations for failure, but no good explanation for success.

This is America. You’re entitled to believe what you want.

The best way out is always through.

I wish everyone well, but you need to focus on yourself. You need to stop putting your hand out. Everyone wants hand outs. Everyone wants things for free. You’ve got to put in the work. You’ve got to grind. You’ve got go through the struggle, and you’ve got to get it.

Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.

Under the worst conditions, horrendous conditions, people still, you know, fight for their rights and don’t just succumb.

Anyone who cannot come to terms with his life while he is alive needs one hand to ward off a little his despair over his fate… but with his other hand he can note down what he sees among the ruins.

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

I have one yardstick by which I test every major problem – and that yardstick is: Is it good for America?

I’m sure like everyone else I’m not always the happiest if I don’t do a good job in quali or the race or whatever, so I think beating myself up sometimes makes me work harder.

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

When my ancestors came from Africa, they were shackled by our neck, our wrists, and our ankles in steel chains. I’ve turned those steel chains into gold to symbolize the fact that I’m still a slave, only my price tag is higher.

I’ve had some dark nights of the soul, of course, but giving in to depression would be a sellout, a defeat.

My life as a child did not prepare me for the fact that the world is full of cruel and bitter things.

I have dual citizenship; it just so happens I live in America. I would like to go back to Wales. I’m obsessed with my childhood, and at least three times a week dream I am back there.

Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life. Failure comes when we shrink from them.

I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there’s purpose and worth to each and every life.

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

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.

Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.

It’s hard to improve public education – that’s clear.

I have survivor’s curiosity, I guess.

All great achievements require time.

I’m proof against that word failure. I’ve seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure of cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.

There are a number of things wrong with Washington. One of them is that everyone is too far from home.

If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.

Over the years I’ve seen people lose a spouse and then withdraw and lose interest in life, and I believe we need to resist that.

Treat failure as a lesson on how not to approach achieving a goal, and then use that learning to improve your chances of success when you try again. Failure is only the end if you decide to stop.

Weak minds sink under prosperity as well as adversity; but strong and deep ones have two high tides.

It’s like a muscle – if you stop going to the gym or stop running, you get weak. The military teaches you these great values, but we don’t keep up the discipline on our own, and we lose it. So wherever you go, keep that discipline up.