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

I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.

It is never too late to be what you might have been.

To be successful, you need results in a row. You can’t win, lose, win, lose.

The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.

I wanted to sell a million records, and I sold a million records. I wanted to go platinum; I went platinum. I’ve been working nonstop since I was 15. I don’t even know how to chill out.

We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know. And writing Langston Hughes replica poems became me wanting to write like Stevie Wonder.

I wanted to get a job being creative, and I did.

I know how to swim through backlash. I can tread water through backlash… If anything, that’s all giving me power.

I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.

Find a beautiful piece of art. If you fall in love with Van Gogh or Matisse or John Oliver Killens, or if you fall love with the music of Coltrane, the music of Aretha Franklin, or the music of Chopin – find some beautiful art and admire it, and realize that that was created by human beings just like you, no more human, no less.

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

I’m committed to the fight game.

I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.

The only shame is to have none.

Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.

I can tell you from experience that God’s help and presence in our lives is vital. He is the Author of all true success and everything that is good-without Him, we can do nothing of true value.

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.

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.

My success rate speaks for itself.

Enthusiasm is the most important thing in life.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Just as food eaten without appetite is a tedious nourishment, so does study without zeal damage the memory by not assimilating what it absorbs.

All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.

I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success… such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.

But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

But if I have a lot of imagination, I could tell myself whatever I wanted, you know. I handle myself quite well. I’m kind of fascist with myself, you know. There’s no discussion. There is an order. You follow it.

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.

We are America, second to none, and we own the finish line. Don’t forget it.

If we are to be happy, we must first react against our tendency to follow the line of least resistance, a tendency that causes us either to remain as we are, or to look primarily to activities external to ourselves for what will provide new impetus to our lives.

As long as somebody finances you, can make a film and get it seen any place and in any language; then, hopefully, it’s a success.

Once you start a working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.

If I’ve got something do. I’m going to attack it. I’m going to attack that stress.

Where sense is wanting, everything is wanting.

The resistance that you fight physically in the gym and the resistance that you fight in life can only build a strong character.

A lot of people tell me a lot of things about my conduct, my game, my future… but I try to stay away from their words of wisdom. I don’t let it distract me. On the field, you will be facing the ball alone. If you fail, you will the only one to blame. So, you should be the one deciding for yourself.

A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.

Sometimes, if you begin to sing in a halfhearted mood, you can sing yourself up the ladder. Singing will often make the heart rise.

My dad used to have an expression – ‚It is the lucky person who gets up in the morning, puts both feet on the floor, knows what they are about to do, and thinks it still matters.‘

I only want my work to make people happy.

I used to feel unsafe right in the moment of an accomplishment – I felt the ground fall from under my feet because this could be the end. And even now, while everyone is celebrating, I’m on to the next thing. I don’t want to get lost in this big cushion of success.

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.

Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.

We was able to become real successful in the mixtape space.

For unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison.

O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.

Create a ladder of values and priorities in your life, reminding yourself of what really matters to you.

The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.

You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.

Poetry surrounds us everywhere, but putting it on paper is, alas, not so easy as looking at it.

When your dream is bigger than you are, you only have two choices: give up or get help.

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.

There’s no real excuse for being successful enough as an actor to do what you want and then selling out. You do it pure. You don’t try to adapt it, make it commercial.

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

I feel that God wants me to coach; otherwise, he wouldn’t have put the desire in me.

There is a soak-the-rich attitude in the air, a feeling that if you have a lot of money you must have got it by some ghastly means. I can quite happily say there was never any family money. All the money we got was mine, just from writing books.

You must take action now that will move you towards your goals. Develop a sense of urgency in your life.

When I’m inspired, I get excited because I can’t wait to see what I’ll come up with next.