My old drama coach used to say, ‚Don’t just do something, stand there.‘ Gary Cooper wasn’t afraid to do nothing.

I can’t act!

Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.

Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.

Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.

The wit knows that his place is at the tail of a procession.

You can be passionate about anything.

Nothing succeeds like success. Get a little success, and then just get a little more.

Common sense is the genius of humanity.

The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.

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

The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others, and it becomes the property of all.

I will be unhappy if I know I have not accomplished something I should have done that was possible.

Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it.

I’m sure like everyone else I’m not always the happiest if I don’t do a good job in quali or the race or whatever, so I think beating myself up sometimes makes me work harder.

People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.

Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, ‚This is a misfortune‘ but ‚To bear this worthily is good fortune.‘

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

Let us not listen to those who think we ought to be angry with our enemies, and who believe this to be great and manly. Nothing is so praiseworthy, nothing so clearly shows a great and noble soul, as clemency and readiness to forgive.

I’ll never, ever be full. I’ll always be hungry. Obviously, I’m not talking about food. Growing up, I had nothing for such a long time. Someone told me a long time ago, and I’ve never forgotten it, ‚Once you’ve ever been hungry, really, really hungry, then you’ll never, ever be full.‘

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.

Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.

Without failure there is no achievement.

Hatreds not vowed and concealed are to be feared more than those openly declared.

By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired.

Energy, like the biblical grain of the mustard-seed, will remove mountains.

I don’t want to hear the word ‚can’t.‘

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools.

We are not going to be satisfied by politicians saying ‚we support you‘ and then walking away. We won’t be satisfied until they meet our demands and act. That’s why simply taking a selfie or posting support on Twitter isn’t enough. That’s why we have to keep striking.

Clever men are good, but they are not the best.

It’s not worth doing something unless you were doing something that someone, somewere, would much rather you weren’t doing.

Error is acceptable as long as we are young; but one must not drag it along into old age.

It’s easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!

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.

How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise!

In football, it’s the job of the player to play, the coach to coach, the official to officiate. Each guy is charged with upholding his end, nothing more. In golf, the player, coach and official are rolled into one, and they overlap completely. Golf really is the best microcosm of life – or at least the way life should be.

All that I know about my life, it seems, I have learned in books.

It is not well to make great changes in old age.

Those who create are rare; those who cannot are numerous. Therefore, the latter are stronger.

Men’s actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted, and who has not been the victim and slave of his action.

If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people.

Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.

Both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom: the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come.

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.

The reason that I’m here at all is because of my relationship with my family and their encouragement of me to be a musician and to work hard. As long as I stay there in that space, I can do anything. That’s my truth.

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

I don’t know what drives me to succeed.

A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.

If you keep proving stuff that others have done, getting confidence, increasing the complexities of your solutions – for the fun of it – then one day you’ll turn around and discover that nobody actually did that one!

I intend, before the endgame looms, to die sitting in a chair in my own garden with a glass of brandy in my hand and Thomas Tallis on the iPod. Oh, and since this is England, I had better add, ‚If wet, in the library.‘ Who could say that this is bad?

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

The trouble ain’t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right.

Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person.