No crime is so great as daring to excel.

Nothing can be beautiful which is not true.

For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.

Anger is wonderful. It keeps you going. I’m angry about bankers. About the government.

If it doesn’t work out there will never be any doubt that the pleasure was worth all the pain.

Human development thus far has been fueled and guided by the feeling that things could be, and are probably going to be, better.

Live the life you’ve dreamed.

My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will, never, never surrender to what is right.

A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.

A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.

The opportunities of America opened out to me the public schools. They carried me to the professional training of an American university. I began by working with my own hands for my daily bread.

I liked school, but I used to dread those moments when the teacher would call me up to give an oral report. I forced myself to deal with it and not dwell on the class in front of me – to keep a straight face, give the report and concentrate on getting it right. That’s normally how I perform. That’s how I am.

I was a fighting machine with a will of iron.

Getting rich is about fun. It’s a game, and you have to treat it that way.

To lead people walk behind them.

Every three months, I’ll say, ‚Honey, I think I should learn how to cook‘.

Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn’t have the power to say yes.

Weak character will neutralize all of the other possible good qualities a person might possess.

The time is always right to do what is right.

When you are fitted in a racing car and you race to win, second or third place is not enough.

Unwearied ceaseless effort is the price that must be paid for turning faith into a rich infallible experience.

If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I’d still swim. And I’d despise the one who gave up.

I worked out early on to give up things I couldn’t do well at all.

Let everyone try and find that as a result of daily prayer he adds something new to his life, something with which nothing can be compared.

Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?

Libraries raised me.

There’s room for role models who make mistakes.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession.

The best way to sell yourself to others is first to sell the others to yourself.

Mastery passes often for egotism.

Knowledge cultivates your seeds and does not sow in your seeds.

Like so many American families, our families weren’t asking for much. They didn’t begrudge anyone else’s success or care that others had much more than they did… in fact, they admired it.

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.

We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.

You can be passionate about anything.

When the first big paycheque with ‚Dumb And Dumber‘ hit, I went: ‚Gosh, I wonder if this will affect my performance. Will I do a take and think, was that worth $7 million?‘ But that never happened. If anything, it made me rebel against that thing when people who get rich start playing it safe.

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.

Everything you are against weakens you. Everything you are for empowers you.

I had given up some youth for knowledge, but my gain was more valuable than the loss.

Never give in – never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.

The greatest difficulty always comes right before the birth of a dream.

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.

I’m proof against that word failure. I’ve seen behind it. The only failure a man ought to fear is failure of cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.

Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.

Your philosophy determines whether you will go for the disciplines or continue the errors.

Oh, give us the man who sings at his work.

Enemies are so stimulating.

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

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

As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.

I don’t think about that. I wasn’t a kid growing up saying one day I’ll get an Oscar and make a speech. That wasn’t on my mind. So what I do is the best work I can do.

We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter, and we will not fail. Peace and Freedom will prevail.

Whatever that means, however you got on that mountain, why not try to climb it? And do it in your own way.

Our work is never over.

The secret to success is to offend the greatest number of people.

If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go.

Don’t be a writer; it’s a terrible way to live your life. There’s nothing to be gained from it but poverty and obscurity and solitude. So if you have a taste for all those things, which means that you really are burning to do it, then go ahead and do it. But don’t expect anything from anybody.

I believe that I’m one of the best in the world at what I do, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be.