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 write for no other purpose than to add to the beauty that now belongs to me. I write a book for no other reason than to add three or four hundred acres to my magnificent estate.

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.

From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned.

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.

Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.

You can’t do something forever.

Men take only their needs into consideration – never their abilities.

Vanity is the healthiest thing in life.

Be a player; don’t play yourself. And don’t play basketball. That’s not your sport, Jeb Bush.

My overall look on things is a lot more mature than it used to be.

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

When I get down, I don’t waller around for long.

It is reasonable to have perfection in our eye that we may always advance toward it, though we know it can never be reached.

Every writer has his writing technique – what he can and can’t do to describe something like war or history. I’m not good at writing about those things, but I try because I feel it is necessary to write that kind of thing.

I really believe in the philosophy that you create your own universe. I’m just trying to create a good one for myself.

There will be days when I walk in an arena and people will cheer and then there might be days when I walk in an arena and people might boo, but it all sounds the same to me because it’s all just noise that lets me know that I’m relevant.

Courage is grace under pressure.

I’ve always believed in God. I also think that’s the sort of thing that either comes as part of the equipment, the capacity to believe, or at some point in your life, when you’re in a position where you actually need help from a power greater than yourself, you simply make an agreement.

The devil ain’t got no power over me. The devil come, and me shake hands with the devil. Devil have his part to play. Devil’s a good friend, too… because when you don’t know him, that’s the time he can mosh you down.

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

I will do this job as long as I feel that I can do it full steam.

We do not need to proselytise either by our speech or by our writing. We can only do so really with our lives. Let our lives be open books for all to study.

Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.

Never marry someone in hope that they’ll change later.

The left paw has done me well over the years. I’m not a scientist, I’m a martial artist.

Our patience will achieve more than our force.

Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

I feel like this: Whatever is in your path and in your heart, you need to do.

Diligence is the mother of good fortune.

I’ve written some great things. That’s a gift, but there’s consequences. Yeah, you get this great work, but you suffer. You really, really suffer.

Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it… that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.

As I got older, I guess I became more mellow and more forgiving and more loving.

He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.

Doing is the great thing, for if people resolutely do what is right, they come in time to like doing it.

I don’t want to be alone, I want to be left alone.

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.

A hustler has to deal with danger and risk. It’s part of the game. You cannot control it all, nor would you want to. Chaos, unknown factors are not something to be anxious about.

We must not sit still and look for miracles; up and doing, and the Lord will be with thee. Prayer and pains, through faith in Christ Jesus, will do anything.

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

A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks he becomes.

There is only one failure in life possible, and that is not to be true to the best one knows.

I am invariably late for appointments – sometimes as much as two hours. I’ve tried to change my ways but the things that make me late are too strong, and too pleasing.

You need to understand what works best for your own body.

When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself.

Friendship is a plant of slow growth and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.

You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, ‚I release the need for this in my life‘.

No sooner said than done – so acts your man of worth.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal.

Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.

I’m no genius.

I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.

I have a personal ambition to live my life honestly and honor the true love that I’ve had and also the people I’ve had around me.

All right, then, I’ll go to hell.

My ‚fear‘ is my substance, and probably the best part of me.

Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know – and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance.

Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spent the rest of the day putting the pieces together.

None of the records I make are ever a deliberate construction – they’re always an expression of who I am at the time and where I am in my life.

You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.