Small aim is a crime; have great aim.

You always want your people to be proud of what you have accomplished.

The smart thing in the art world is to have one good idea and never have another.

Microsoft has had two goals in the last 10 years. One was to copy the Mac, and the other was to copy Lotus‘ success in the spreadsheet – basically, the applications business. And over the course of the last 10 years, Microsoft accomplished both of those goals. And now they are completely lost.

If you’re going to wake up early all the time, and you’re working hard, and you’re working out, sometimes you’re going to get tired. It’s OK. It’s acceptable – somewhat. We’re all human, unfortunately.

When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.

If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.

When a person starts to talk about their dreams, it’s as if something bubbles up from within. Their eyes brighten, their face glows, and you can feel the excitement in their words.

Nothing is permanent in this wicked world – not even our troubles.

I write for the same reason I breathe – because if I didn’t, I would die.

The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today.

I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.

If all you’re doing is grinding for the man, it’s going to burden you. Once you say, ‚Hey, I’m grinding for the man, but I’m putting money away, and this is part of my exit strategy,‘ you’re working for you.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

As he was valiant, I honour him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him.

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.

Don’t be a spectator, don’t let life pass you by.

Every noble work is at first impossible.

Whatever you have, you must either use or lose.

I think my first thought on reaching the summit- of course, I was very, very pleased to be there, naturally – but my first thought was one of a little bit of surprise. I was a little bit surprised that here I was, Ed Hillary, on top of Mt. Everest. After all, this is the ambition of most mountaineers.

Loving others always costs us something and requires effort. And you have to decide to do it on purpose. You can’t wait for a feeling to motivate you.

By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.

When I heard Little Richard, I mean, it just set my world on fire.

The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.

It is easy to get everything you want, provided you first learn to do without the things you cannot get.

All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small.

Ideas excite me, and as soon as I get excited, the adrenaline gets going and the next thing I know I’m borrowing energy from the ideas themselves.

Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

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

Susceptibility to the highest forces is the highest genius.

It’s lack that gives us inspiration. It’s not fullness.

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

If you stop struggling, then you stop life.

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

Diligence is the mother of good fortune.

The starting point of all achievement is desire.

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.

When younger writers and poets, musicians and painters are weakened by a stemming of funds, they come to me saddened, not as full of dreams and excitement and ideas. I am then weakened and diminished, and made less rich.

A successful lawsuit is the one worn by a policeman.

If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.

I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.

I have to admit, I sometimes wonder how much more successful I would have been as a coach had it not been for my spending summers on the golf course. I could have watched more film, that’s for sure. One advantage Joe Paterno had over me was that he didn’t play golf.

The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this they are always praised rather than condemned. But when they lack the ability to do so and yet want to acquire more at all costs, they deserve condemnation for their mistakes.

When I was 50 years old, I actually decided to draw up a list of half a dozen things that I really hadn’t done very well, and I was going to make efforts to improve. One of them was skiing, and I really did become a very much better skier.

Music comes to me more readily than words.

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

We can take a ‚It was hard to get there.‘ But we ain’t taking no loss. We’re going to win.

I am certainly not one of those who need to be prodded. In fact, if anything, I am the prod.

Anything you put your mind to and add your imagination into can make your life a lot better and a lot more fun.

Stupidity and human incompetence are the great evils, not ambition and glory.

You have to be smart. The easy days are over.

I want to make something that is breathtaking. Of course, you can’t make something that is always breathtaking, or you would never be able to breathe. You would collapse.

My success comes in making fun of whatever you’re doing. That’s my way.

I always try to do as much as I can do. I’m never a person that does not enough, because I’d regret not doing enough and think I probably could have done more. I probably go too far and have to reel myself back in, which works in some things, and other things it doesn’t work.

Get busy living, or get busy dying.

Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future.

Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness.