It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.

Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it… Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.

Prison life, fortunately, I spent a lot of years, about 18 years with other prisoners, and, as I say, they enriched your soul.

Like every man of sense and good feeling, I abominate work.

I found it hard to be young. When I was married in my twenties, I hated being regarded as ‚the little wife.‘ You don’t know what it was like then! I’d never even written a cheque. I had to ask my husband for money for groceries.

We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.

If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.

I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.

My favorite affirmation when I feel stuck or out of sorts is: Whatever I need is already here, and it is all for my highest good. Jot this down and post it conspicuously throughout your home, on the dashboard of your car, at your office, on your microwave oven, and even in front of your toilets!

If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.

One of the things I did when I discovered this huge importance of being vulnerable is very happily moved away from the shame research, because that’s such a downer, and people hate that topic. It’s not that vulnerability is the upside, but it’s better than shame, I guess.

In my younger days, I was trying to write sophisticated prose and fantastic stories.

For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is.

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

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

The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends.

Remembering what you’ve been through and how that has strengthened your mindset can lift you out of a negative brain loop and help you bypass those weak, one-second impulses to give in. Even if you’re feeling low and beat down by life right now, I guarantee you can think of a time or two when you overcame odds and tasted success.

The only shame is to have none.

Most of the time I spend when I get up in the morning is trying to figure out what is going to happen.

If you’re trying too hard to be the girl next door, you’re not going to be.

When you realize who you live for, and who’s important to please, a lot of people will actually start living. I am never going to get caught up in that. I’m gonna look back on my life and say that I enjoyed it – and I lived it for me.

Books can only reveal us to ourselves, and as often as they do us this service we lay them aside.

A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.

My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them.

By indignities men come to dignities.

If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.

I used to let other people’s struggles affect my happiness. If they weren’t happy, there was no way I was going to be happy. The opposite was also true: If I wasn’t happy, I didn’t want anyone around me to be happy.

Life is a lively process of becoming.

Few women, I fear, have had such reason as I have to think the long sad years of youth were worth living for the sake of middle age.

I look at myself like a show dog. I’ve got to keep her clipped and trimmed and in good shape.

A lot of times, people feel that if they forgive the person who hurt them, then they will continue to take advantage of them or not take responsibility for what they did wrong.

I’m such a good lover because I practice a lot on my own.

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

I have made a few mistakes early on that I admit myself, and there have been times when I have gone over the top and done things that you shouldn’t do in international cricket, but that’s how you learn.

Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.

We have to confront ourselves. Do we like what we see in the mirror? And, according to our light, according to our understanding, according to our courage, we will have to say yea or nay – and rise!

You’re not going to say anything about me that I’m not going to say about myself. There’s so many things that I think about myself; if someone really wanted to get at me, they could say this and this and this. So I’m going to say it before they can. It’s the best policy for me.

Success in its highest and noblest form calls for peace of mind and enjoyment and happiness which come only to the man who has found the work that he likes best.

We are wiser than we know.

It’s a philosophy of life. A practice. If you do this, something will change, what will change is that you will change, your life will change, and if you can change you, you can perhaps change the world.

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.

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds.

I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That’s my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it’s not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.

Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome.

All I can do is be me, whoever that is.

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.

You must never be satisfied with losing. You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing. But the mark of the good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not his victorious opponents or on his teammates.

If I love you, what business is it of yours?

It’s better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone – so far.

When I was younger, I was testing myself and questioning everything, but now it’s less about that and more about these are the years of my life with my family.

It is really very important while you are young to live in an environment in which there is no fear. Most of us, as we grow older, become frightened; we are afraid of living, afraid of losing a job, afraid of tradition, afraid of what the neighbours, or what the wife or husband would say, afraid of death.

I feel that I’ve done what I wanted to do, and that makes me feel fairly content.

Having unlimited choices can paralyze you creatively.

To be angry is to revenge the faults of others on ourselves.

Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.

I was raised to be independent.

My moms always told me, ‚How long you gonna play the victim?‘ I can say I’m mad and I hate everything, but nothing really changes until I change myself.

What you are comes to you.

I worked with someone who told me they’d never like me. But for some reason, I just felt like I needed her approval. So I started changing myself to please her. It made me stop being social and friendly. I was so unhappy.