Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.

Blessed are the hearts that can bend; they shall never be broken.

What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization.

It’s stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.

Begin to be now what you will be hereafter.

The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation.

People want to tear me down, they were going to knife me anyway.

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.

I liked his ability to deal with a lot of the negativity that surrounded him. Even though he was in a world that he didn’t want to be in, he still saw the bigger picture.

I’ve done everything I wanted to do, even if I have had to pay a very high price – which has been the case most of the time.

It is a no-fail, incontrovertible reality: If you get, give. If you learn, teach. You can’t do anything with that except do it.

No man can succeed in a line of endeavor which he does not like.

To become ‚unique,‘ the challenge is to fight the hardest battle which anyone can imagine until you reach your destination.

I got the stern end of the stick. It was kind of that iron fist. I am who I am today because of my mother.

When my ancestors came from Africa, they were shackled by our neck, our wrists, and our ankles in steel chains. I’ve turned those steel chains into gold to symbolize the fact that I’m still a slave, only my price tag is higher.

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

There is only one sort of discipline, perfect discipline.

History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.

Failure after long perseverance is much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be called a failure.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.

There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.

Most people already know what they’re doing wrong. When I get them to church I want to tell them that you can change.

It doesn’t matter if the water is cold or warm if you’re going to have to wade through it anyway.

To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.

It’s never paid to bet against America. We come through things, but its not always a smooth ride.

If your inner life is not producing what you would like on the outside, don’t be discouraged… just be willing to change.

All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.

The reward of a thing well done is having done it.

No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration.

I have survivor’s curiosity, I guess.

I am sure as everyone knows that I am not the happiest if I don’t do a good job in qualifying or the race.

As soon as I accomplish one goal, I replace it with another one. I try not to get too far ahead of myself. I just say to myself, ‚All right, well, I’d like to headline a tour,‘ and then when I get there, we’ll see what my next goal is.

There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and satisfactorily to myself; but I believe that it is in my power to elevate myself this very hour above the common level of my life.

Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.

We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.

My philosophy in life is, Decide what you want to do. You have to have something to hope for.

I have to keep improving myself and challenging myself.

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.

Some men see things as they are, and say why. I dream of things that never were, and say why not.

I just have an enthusiasm for life.

I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.

The best morale exist when you never hear the word mentioned. When you hear a lot of talk about it, it’s usually lousy.

Anyone who cannot come to terms with his life while he is alive needs one hand to ward off a little his despair over his fate… but with his other hand he can note down what he sees among the ruins.

I was 18 years old, and it was a dream come true for me to work out and eat great food for free. What else do you want in life? People think that is what it is like to be in a SEAL team, but it is less than a fraction of your career as a real SEAL.

I used to have a real problem with self-pity. Every time the devil would throw a pity party, I would attend.

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.

In a lot of ways, success is much harder than I thought it would be. I figured that you’d get here and then everything would be happily ever after. But, it’s hard work, almost harder once you’re successful because you’ve got to maintain it.

When times are bad is when the real entrepreneurs emerge.

It was clear to me that if I could get through Princeton at the top of my class, I could do anything in the world.

Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.

You know capitalism is this wonderful thing that motivates people, it causes wonderful inventions to be done. But in this area of diseases of the world at large, it’s really let us down.

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.

During bad circumstances, which is the human inheritance, you must decide not to be reduced. You have your humanity, and you must not allow anything to reduce that. We are obliged to know we are global citizens. Disasters remind us we are world citizens, whether we like it or not.

Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.

If a small-town boy like me who bagged groceries was able to make his dreams come true, you can too.

In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing.

We work to become, not to acquire.

The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.

To hold a man down, you have to stay down with him.

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.