Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

Anyone can have a good day, but you have to be able to perform on a bad day.

I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

I always seem to get inspiration and renewed vitality by contact with this great novel land of yours which sticks up out of the Atlantic.

When all is said and done, more is said than done.

I ain’t never far away from a pencil and paper or a tape recorder.

So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.

I don’t want to hear the word ‚can’t.‘

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

In ninth grade, I came up with a new form of rebellion. I hadn’t been getting good grades, but I decided to get all A’s without taking a book home. I didn’t go to math class, because I knew enough and had read ahead, and I placed within the top 10 people in the nation on an aptitude exam.

Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.

I always thought Johnny Carson was just brilliant, and I used to watch him and all the comics that would be on the show every night – and I’d dream about it being me.

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.

Cast away your sloth, your lethargy, your coldness, or whatever interferes with your chaste and pure love for Christ, your soul’s husband. Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all your soul’s range of delight.

Some people see things that are and ask, Why? Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don’t have time for all that.

One thing that I find very unmotivating is the kind of Plan B argument: when Earth gets destroyed, you want to be somewhere else. That doesn’t work for me. We have sent robotic probes now to every place in the solar system, and this is the best one.

When I start to write, I don’t have any plan at all. I just wait for the story to come.

You fail only if you stop writing.

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you – gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.

People will try to bring you down, but you gotta go up.

I’ve got my Grammys on top of my piano and I look at them when I play.

I suppose for me as an artist it wasn’t always just about expressing my work; I really wanted, more than anything else, to contribute in some way to the culture that I was living in. It just seemed like a challenge to move it a little bit towards the way I thought it might be interesting to go.

If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.

Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.

Be a player; don’t play yourself. And don’t play basketball. That’s not your sport, Jeb Bush.

I have spent my life going from mania to mania. Somehow it has all paid off.

We all have a tendency to avoid our weaknesses. When we do that, we never progress or get any better.

I only want my work to make people happy.

I don’t believe I’ll ever get credit for anything I do in foreign affairs, no matter how successful it is, because I didn’t go to Harvard.

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

It is a fact often observed, that men have written good verses under the inspiration of passion, who cannot write well under other circumstances.

Love is easy, and I love writing. You can’t resist love. You get an idea, someone says something, and you’re in love.

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.

Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.

We proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things and tackling our biggest challenges.

In England, when an athlete gets to the top, we do our best to destroy him.

Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men must walk, at least, before they dance.

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.

On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit.

The minute you got the Nobel Peace Prize, things that I said yesterday, with nobody paying too much attention, I say the same things after I got it – oh! It was quite crucial for people, and it helped our morale because apartheid did look invincible.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us.

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done!

I am a slow walker, but I never walk back.

The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter – for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way.

Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful.

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help… Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.

Martyrdom: The only way a man can become famous without ability.

Do not let Sunday be taken from you. If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan.

Believe you can and you’re halfway there.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

Black or white good parts are hard to come by. A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity it doesn’t matter how good you are.

A lot of artists fail when they try to act, and they flop. So when I get into acting, it’s going to be to do it well, something good, something of quality. I want people to say, ‚Wow, that movie‘ – or that show or whatever – ‚turned out really well.‘

Miracles come in moments. Be ready and willing.

Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms.

If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure.