My work is the only ground I’ve ever had to stand on. To put it bluntly, I seem to have a whole superstructure with no foundation, but I’m working on the foundation.

The experience of pain or loss can be a formidably motivating force.

We’ve been programmed, from the time that we were very, very little, about what we can’t do – about what is impossible.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

The reward of suffering is experience.

My reputation grows with every failure.

The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.

We clearly see in God’s Word that anything He tells us to do, He will give us the ability to do it. But do we really believe it? Do we want to believe it? It’s easier to come up with excuses for why we can’t do things that are hard or that we really don’t want to do.

The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands.

I would like to fly in space. Absolutely. That would be cool. I used to just do personally risky things, but now I’ve got kids and responsibilities, so I can’t be my own test pilot. That wouldn’t be a good idea. But I definitely want to fly as soon as it’s a sensible thing to do.

Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.

I have never been able to renounce the light, the pleasure of being, and the freedom in which I grew up.

I think happiness is a goal all of us can agree on. Let’s face it – we all would like to be happy.

Just because something didn’t work out your way, or somebody disappointed you, that does not change who you are.

Sometimes you must suffer through something to defeat your fear of it.

I’m always asked, ‚What’s the secret to success?‘ But there are no secrets. Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room.

I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.

I never say I am a guru.

In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.

No person is important enough to make me angry.

As far as men go, it is not what they are that interests me, but what they can become.

Fame is ultimately about the cycles of desire and how to do away with them or manage them well.

Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice… No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out.

I’m not good at talking about myself.

Sometimes we be playing the politics too much and forget who we are just to win.

You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That’s how you know you’re still alive.

You are going to let the fear of poverty govern you life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live.

We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.

A child wants things to be a certain way. When you get to be an adult, you just understand that some people are good, some are not, and you can’t be naive.

It is better to be alone than in bad company.

The ego is only an illusion, but a very influential one. Letting the ego-illusion become your identity can prevent you from knowing your true self. Ego, the false idea of believing that you are what you have or what you do, is a backwards way of assessing and living life.

Somewhere it is written that parents who are critical of other people’s children and publicly admit they can do better are asking for it.

I love being busy.

Never mistake motion for action.

Meditation has been a loyal friend to me. It has helped me write my books.

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

Adventure is not outside man; it is within.

I try to be the same person I was yesterday.

You fail only if you stop writing.

I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.

Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow.

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

Travel teaches toleration.

Next to excellence is the appreciation of it.

Conflict cannot survive without your participation.

A lot of people like to do certain things, but they’re not that good at it. Keep going through the things that you like to do, until you find something that you actually seem to be extremely good at. It can be anything.

Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.

Honestly, I always believed in myself. For real, for real.

You can start right where you stand and apply the habit of going the extra mile by rendering more service and better service than you are now being paid for.

It’s a philosophy of life. A practice. If you do this, something will change, what will change is that you will change, your life will change, and if you can change you, you can perhaps change the world.

Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul.

He who angers you conquers you.

Somebody’s boring me. I think it’s me.

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

As an athlete, you’d better laugh at yourself when you slip in the mud.

A warrior is not a person that carries a gun. The biggest war you ever go through is right between your own ears. It’s in your mind. We’re all going through a war in our mind, and we have to callus our mind to fight that war and to win that war.

My goal was never to be the loudest or the craziest. It was to be the most entertaining.

A reputation as a hard worker is a good reputation to have.

A lot of times, people feel that if they forgive the person who hurt them, then they will continue to take advantage of them or not take responsibility for what they did wrong.

Around every corner, always protect the engine that powers you.

To remain a credible leader, I must always work first, hardest, and longest on changing myself. This is neither easy nor natural, but it is essential.