Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.

As pessimistic as I am about the nature of human beings and our capacity for atrocity and malevolence and betrayal and laziness and inertia, and all those things, I think we can transcend all that and set things straight.

What keeps me going is goals.

I have a feeling that I make a very good friend, and I’m a good mother, and a good sister, and a good citizen. I am involved in life itself – all of it. And I have a lot of energy and a lot of nerve.

‚They‘ are the people that don’t believe in you, that say that you won’t succeed. We stay away from ‚They.‘

I’ve seen how the issues that come across a president’s desk are always the hard ones – the problems where no amount of data or numbers will get you to the right answer.

When you are learning about a martial art, it is about respect.

The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.

Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone, you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.

Every day we have plenty of opportunities to get angry, stressed or offended. But what you’re doing when you indulge these negative emotions is giving something outside yourself power over your happiness. You can choose to not let little things upset you.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.

I always believe that there should come a time when your energy, speed, stamina should combine well with your brains.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light. Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.

Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past.

Life’s a fight. It’s a good fight of faith.

The idea of recognising your strengths and using them in as versatile a way as you can is cool to me.

The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible.

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

I’ve always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.

Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have.

One thing Britons have always been celebrated for, and that is being able to stick it out in a tight place.

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

Europe has what we do not have yet, a sense of the mysterious and inexorable limits of life, a sense, in a word, of tragedy. And we have what they sorely need: a sense of life’s possibilities.

Good luck has its storms.

I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure.

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

People respond when you tell them there is a great future in front of you, you can leave your past behind.

Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic.

Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.

I am a grafter.

What one has, one ought to use: and whatever he does he should do with all his might.

I knew ‚Crenshaw‘ had elevated me and distinguished me.

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.

There’s an inherent danger in letting people think that they have perfected something. When they believe they’ve ‚nailed it,‘ most people tend to sit back and rest on their laurels while countless others will be labouring furiously to better their work!

That’s the shock: All cliches are true. The years really do speed by. Life really is as short as they tell you it is. And there really is a God – so do I buy that one? If all the other cliches are true… Hell, don’t pose me that one.

If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.

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.

The nice thing is that when people come up to me, it’s the football they remember, not all the other rubbish.

Worshipping is stripping ourselves of our idols, even the most hidden ones, and choosing the Lord as the centre, as the highway of our lives.

We are often raised as dependents then given over to teachers. It’s experience and exploration that can transform us and lead to mastery.

The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.

Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable.

Know that any and all thoughts that you have regarding your own skills, interests, and inclinations are valid. To reinforce the validity of your thoughts, keep them private. Tell yourself that they’re between you and God.

Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.

If a man constantly aspires is he not elevated?

Instead of worrying about what people say of you, why not spend time trying to accomplish something they will admire.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.

All of us are guinea pigs in the laboratory of God. Humanity is just a work in progress.

Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. I feel stronger for confession.

If a person doesn’t change, there’s something really wrong with him.

When any calamity has been suffered the first thing to be remembered is, how much has been escaped.

Whether for life or death, do your own work well.

One is still what one is going to cease to be and already what one is going to become. One lives one’s death, one dies one’s life.

You have to be a bastard to make it, and that’s a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on earth.

The man who has no problems is out of the game.

Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.