Kings are not born: they are made by artificial hallucination.

My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty… it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.

Jealousy… is a mental cancer.

If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground.

I’m all about evolution. I’m the first person to judge myself.

Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress.

I really started writing music to challenge myself, to see what I could write.

Martyrdom is the only way a man can become famous without ability.

Aim for the sky and you’ll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you’ll stay on the floor.

I don’t tell people, ‚You’re okay the way that you are.‘ That’s not the right story. The right story is, ‚You’re way less than you could be.‘

I find it harder and harder every day to live up to my blue china.

I’m not a person that socializes very well.

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

I think being able to age gracefully is a very important talent. It is too late for me.

Music will never go away, and I will never stop making music; it’s just what capacity or what arena you decide to do it.

There’s a deceptive sin that can keep us from walking in love: pride. It’s deceptive because when you have pride, you’re usually too proud to admit it. I know this because I used to have teachings on pride and they didn’t sell well.

Through every victory and every setback, I’ve insisted that change is never easy and never quick; that we wouldn’t meet all of our challenges in one term, or one presidency, or even in one lifetime.

I’ve made money, and I’ve been ripped off. I’ve had creative freedom, and I’ve been pressured to make hits. I have dealt with diva behavior from crazy musicians, and I have seen genius records by wonderful artists get completely ignored. I love music. I always will.

It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

Cowardice… is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend functioning of the imagination.

I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a phone – and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward.

People say ‚I want to be rich‘. The question is, ‚Are you willing to do what it takes?‘

All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

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

Good leaders must communicate vision clearly, creatively, and continually. However, the vision doesn’t come alive until the leader models it.

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

There is no substitute for victory.

Do I dare set forth here the most important, the most useful rule of all education? It is not to save time, but to squander it.

Love is the answer to everything. It’s the only reason to do anything. If you don’t write stories you love, you’ll never make it. If you don’t write stories that other people love, you’ll never make it.

Character isn’t something you were born with and can’t change, like your fingerprints. It’s something you weren’t born with and must take responsibility for forming.

Small aim is a crime.

If small things have the power to disturb you, then who you think you are is exactly that: small.

I was a fighting machine with a will of iron.

I’ve never managed to keep a journal longer than two weeks.

We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets.

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.

Men do less than they ought, unless they do all that they can.

The new ruler must determine all the injuries that he will need to inflict. He must inflict them once and for all.

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.

In England, when an athlete gets to the top, we do our best to destroy him.

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?

Keep your nose out the sky, keep your heart to god, and keep your face to the raising sun.

A man’s own manner and character is what most becomes him.

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

The more successful I become, the more I need a man.

Never mistake motion for action.

My mother was determined to make us independent. When I was four years old, she stopped the car a few miles from our house and made me find my own way home across the fields. I got hopelessly lost.

The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.

I cry so much less than I used to. I used to be one of the most teary people.

The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did. It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary.

I’m just going to say it: I’m pro-guilt. Guilt is good. Guilt helps us stay on track because it’s about our behavior. It occurs when we compare something we’ve done – or failed to do – with our personal values.

The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?

Those of us who submitted or surrendered our ideas and dreams and identities to the ‚leaders‘ must take back our rights, our identities, our responsibilities.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.

To me, a leader is someone who holds her- or himself accountable for finding potential in people and processes. And so what I think is really important is sustainability.

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.

A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.

Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold.