Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!

Talent without working hard is nothing.

You can choose a future where more Americans have the chance to gain the skills they need to compete, no matter how old they are or how much money they have. Education was the gateway to opportunity for me. It was the gateway for Michelle. And now more than ever, it is the gateway to a middle-class life.

Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.

Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.

If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.

If you’re waiting for the perfect moment, you’ll never write a thing because it will never arrive. I have no routine. I have no foolproof anything. There’s nothing foolproof.

I don’t get up, get dressed, go out, and think, ‚Okay, I gotta find eight jokes.‘

Do right. Do your best. Treat others as you want to be treated.

Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

Not brute force but only persuasion and faith are the kings of this world.

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

The ladder of success is never crowded at the top.

I think beating myself up sometimes and knowing I am not happy when I do it makes me work harder to do a good job.

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.

The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.

I found it hard to be young. When I was married in my twenties, I hated being regarded as ‚the little wife.‘ You don’t know what it was like then! I’d never even written a cheque. I had to ask my husband for money for groceries.

A record deal doesn’t make you an artist; you make yourself an artist.

Do I have chocolate chip cookies? Yes, I do. Do I have mint chocolate chip milkshakes? Yes, I do. I love them. They are fantastic. But when I have them, they’re worth it. I earned them. I did something. I worked out super hard. I stayed clean on food.

I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.

Expect me to continue what I’ve been doing, which is trying to take over the world.

Yeah we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.

When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.

The key to winning is choosing to do God’s will and loving others with all you’ve got.

A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself.

This is no time for ease and comfort. It is time to dare and endure.

I just do the best I can and write something interesting, to tell stories in an interesting way and move forward from there.

Boldness be my friend.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

I don’t mind living in a man’s world as long as I can be a woman in it.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

I have promised myself that I’m going to do everything I can for as long as I can.

I can do whatever I want.

Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress.

Peace comes when you talk to the guy you most hate. And that’s where the courage of a leader comes, because when you sit down with your enemy, you as a leader must already have very considerable confidence from your own constituency.

You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.

Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don’t ever apologize for anything.

Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.

The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.

If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to keep getting what we’re getting.

I just figured out that if I gave my all into this game – if I put everything into the fight business – then I would eventually run the fight business.

If something’s important enough, you should try. Even if – the probable outcome is failure.

I don’t want to be something that just comes and goes.

Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active.

The curse of me and my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort.

Only the educated are free.

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.

If you lose a big fight, it will worry you all of your life. It will plague you – until you get your revenge.

This desk of mine is one at which a man may die, but from which he cannot resign.

The world itself is the will to power – and nothing else! And you yourself are the will to power – and nothing else!

If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.

Don’t find fault, find a remedy.

I enjoy competition. I enjoy challenges. If a challenge is in front of me and it appeals to me, I will go ahead and conquer it.

Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.

What someone else does or doesn’t do has no effect on me and what I do.

In my work and in myself I reflect black people, women and men, as I reflect others. One day even the most self-protective ones will look into the mirror I provide and not be afraid.

If you stop struggling, then you stop life.

I never realized until lately that women were supposed to be the inferior sex.

My mother, I suppose, is still a main figure in my life because her life was so sad and unfair, and she so brave, but also because she was determined to make me into the Sunday-school-recitation little girl I was, from the age of seven or so, fighting not to be.