Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it… Success is shy – it won’t come out while you’re watching.

There is only one way… to get anybody to do anything. And that is by making the other person want to do it.

Hollywood has a way of making everything seem like an overnight success.

We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets.

I’ve noticed that when I am selling a lot of records, certain things become easier. I’m not talking about getting a table in a restaurant.

That is my wish, hope, instruction for all of you: Take your education seriously, okay? Always do that. Because I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my education.

Instead, I have an abundance mentality: When people are genuinely happy at the successes of others, the pie gets larger.

Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn’t that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.

There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.

We build too many walls and not enough bridges.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.

I think whether you’re having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude.

We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.

To lead people walk behind them.

They talk about the failure of socialism but where is the success of capitalism in Africa, Asia and Latin America?

Surface R&B doesn’t work any more. The whole heartthrob thing, songs about unrealistic love and tearing your shirt off every show – that’s not really where it’s at any more. It’s becoming harder for those guys to sell records, and harder for them to succeed.

I feel that God wants me to coach; otherwise, he wouldn’t have put the desire in me.

Somebody once asked me what my theory of life was, and I said, ‚Don’t try.‘ That fits the writing, too. I don’t try; I just type.

Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all.

Great geniuses have the shortest biographies.

We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.

I get so excited when a song I wrote that’s very personal to me goes No. 1 and I look down and see people singing the words back to me.

I have dreams, and I want to see them come to fruition.

The reason that I’m here at all is because of my relationship with my family and their encouragement of me to be a musician and to work hard. As long as I stay there in that space, I can do anything. That’s my truth.

The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.

Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.

My interest in creating anything is that it be useful.

Don’t ever doubt yourselves or waste a second of your life. It’s too short, and you’re too special.

Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.

However my parents – both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.

You have to stay fresh and blank in your mind when you go out to bat. You complicate things, and you’re gone.

Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.

I think life on Earth must be about more than just solving problems… It’s got to be something inspiring, even if it is vicarious.

In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.

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

Anytime someone tells me that I can’t do something, I want to do it more.

You’ve got to go out on a limb sometimes because that’s where the fruit is.

I always feel like it’s two key ingredients when it comes to following your dreams, making something happen that the average person deems difficult. If you truly believe it, that’s step one. Step two, is, you know, the hard work that goes along with it.

History shows that the majority of people that have done anything great have passed their youth in seclusion.

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

I was sure I’d set the world on fire, and it was hard for a young feller like me to realize the truth – that I hadn’t set the world on fire, and I was totally unprepared to handle the consequences if ‚The Big Trail‘ had been a success and launched me as a star.

The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.

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

Ambition can creep as well as soar.

What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

There is little success where there is little laughter.

Instead of being concerned that you have no office, be concerned to think how you may fit yourself for office. Instead of being concerned that you are not known, seek to be worthy of being known.

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

And now, of course this is another thing I didn’t count on, that now as the governor of the state of California, I am selling California worldwide. You see that? Selling.

Talent without working hard is nothing.

I just owe almost everything to my father and it’s passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.

I can’t do nothing just a little.

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.

You just do what you can and you have as much fun as possible.

If you enjoy living, it is not difficult to keep the sense of wonder.

The only failure one should fear, is not hugging to the purpose they see as best.

A number of analysts have observed that although bin Laden was finally killed, he won some major successes in his war against the U.S.

If I am a cup maker, I’m interested in making the best cup I possibly can. My effort goes into that cup, not what people think about it.

Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow.