People always say that you can’t please everybody. I think that’s a cop-out. Why not attempt it? ‚Cause think of all the people you will please if you try.

Marines don’t know how to spell the word ‚defeat‘.

Create a ladder of values and priorities in your life, reminding yourself of what really matters to you.

This life is worth living, we can say, since it is what we make it.

A child-like man is not a man whose development has been arrested; on the contrary, he is a man who has given himself a chance of continuing to develop long after most adults have muffled themselves in the cocoon of middle-aged habit and convention.

There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.

I made a decision when my father passed away that I was going to be who God made me to be and not try to preach like my father.

A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.

Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.

Transformation literally means going beyond your form.

People like to blame others. I think a person should just look at their own situation, look around them, find out what they wish to do, and seek and go and do that. And that’s it.

I feel that I’ve done what I wanted to do, and that makes me feel fairly content.

I lived a sloppy life. So I took very small increments in my life. I started making my bed. I started cleaning my room. There were dishes in the sink. It started off with doing small house chores. I saw that the yard needed to be mowed. So instead of being told it needed to be mowed, I would mow it.

Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

The ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives.

You aren’t going to find anybody that’s going to be successful without making a sacrifice and without perseverance.

To observations which ourselves we make, we grow more partial for th‘ observer’s sake.

I make preparations both to live and to die every day, but with the emphasis on not dying, and on acting as if I was going to carry on living.

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.

I’ve just tried to grow up in the most natural and gradual process that I possibly can and make choices I feel are right for me and my fans.

Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be our best. Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth; it’s a shield.

Learn to say ‚no‘ to the good so you can say ‚yes‘ to the best.

The things that transfixed you as a child, that you found most exciting was not a passing fancy, but a message about what you’re supposed to do.

I thought one should have the attitude of ‚What do you care what other people think!‘

Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.

With ideas it is like with dizzy heights you climb: At first they cause you discomfort and you are anxious to get down, distrustful of your own powers; but soon the remoteness of the turmoil of life and the inspiring influence of the altitude calm your blood; your step gets firm and sure and you begin to look – for dizzier heights.

My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.

Sometimes in the past when I played something might make me lose focus, or I would go home after a game where I thought I could have played better and I would let it hang over my head for a long time when it shouldn’t.

Emotion creates reality, reality demands action.

Wherever the invitation of men or your own occasions lead you, speak the very truth, as your life and conscience teach it, and cheer the waiting, fainting hearts of men with new hope and new revelation.

It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.

I can’t tell anybody else how to run their life or their business, but I really believe I’ve got a good bead on myself.

New ideas pass through three periods: 1) It can’t be done. 2) It probably can be done, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I knew it was a good idea all along!

I explain the law of compensation like this: ‚Returns are minimal in spite of massive effort at the start, yet returns can be massive with minimal effort over time.

We’re going to be OK because of the American people. They have more grit, determination and courage than you can imagine.

Dream and you shall become.

I’m fat, but I’m thin inside… there’s a thin man inside every fat man.

I want people to follow their dreams, yes… but I’m not interested in telling young black kids how to be rappers… I want to show them that there’s so many other paths you can take, besides a rapper or basketball player.

When I was making the early stuff, I never expected it to be so big. I was in my own kind of bubble. I never wanted to tour; I just wanted to create music and make a diary I could put out into the world. And sometimes, I became the characters.

Don’t just let the devil use your mind as a garbage dump.

The balloons only have one life and the only way of finding out whether they work is to attempt to fly around the world.

Having a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing seems to me to be one of the most basic principles that you can adopt to contribute to individual and world peace.

Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.

I was always trying – I never wanted to let my fans down; I always wanted them to see me in my art form.

Don’t work for recognition, but do work worthy of recognition.

One thing I’ve tried to never do is make wish lists. I try to have a very steppingstone mentality about this whole thing, where as soon as you make one step you visualize the next step, not five steps ahead.

I can never be safe; I always try and go against the grain. As soon as I accomplish one thing, I just set a higher goal. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am.

Every now and then I read a poem that does touch something in me, but I never turn to poetry for solace or pleasure in the way that I throw myself into prose.

My attitude has always been, if you fall flat on your face, at least you’re moving forward. All you have to do is get back up and try again.

Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.

It’s an offseason. These days are valuable for everybody.

There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.

Imagination rules the world.

I don’t want to be too critical of what other people do, but when people go back to do the same thing that they did, I’m completely confused. I’m like, ‚Didn’t you make that movie already?‘ I’ve been very fortunate, and I’m well taken care of, so the least I can do is try to go forward.

The poets are only the interpreters of the gods.

Eighty percent of success is showing up.

We may define therapy as a search for value.

If someone you know makes a bad decision or uses bad judgment, it doesn’t mean you have to allow that to alter your attitude. Why should you allow anyone else’s bad decisions to send you into a tailspin of misery?

Some people carry their heart in their head and some carry their head in their heart. The trick is to keep them apart yet working together.

There wasn’t much as a kid that inspired me in what I did as an adult, but I was always very interested in what motivates people, and in telling stories and building things.

Susceptibility to the highest forces is the highest genius.