Success is not a stop sign.

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

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

I kept writing not because I felt I was so good, but because I felt they were so bad, including Shakespeare, all those. The stilted formalism, like chewing cardboard.

But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

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

Becoming famous was never what I wanted to do. There’s a lot of things that come with fame – it’s what people in the limelight have to do.

I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars; there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that.

There is nothing impossible to him who will try.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.

Just as food eaten without appetite is a tedious nourishment, so does study without zeal damage the memory by not assimilating what it absorbs.

I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, that I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area.

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.

The idea that to make a man work you’ve got to hold gold in front of his eyes is a growth, not an axiom. We’ve done that for so long that we’ve forgotten there’s any other way.

I nearly failed when Virgin was in its infancy; I nearly failed in the early 1980s, and, of course, I have nearly died more than once trying to achieve a world record for boating or ballooning. But through a combination of luck and planning, both Virgin and I are still here.

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.

And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.

We named the book ‚Extreme Ownership‘ because we really found that when we looked at not only at leaders but at teams that were the most successful, we found that the ones that had this attitude of extreme ownership were the ones that did the best, and it’s definitely an attitude that I had.

The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.

I’ll never make it, it will never happen, because they’re never going to hear me ‚cause they’re screaming all the time.

Everybody has goals, aspirations or whatever, and everybody has been at a point in their life where nobody believed in them.

The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.

Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

You must never be satisfied with losing. You must get angry, terribly angry, about losing. But the mark of the good loser is that he takes his anger out on himself and not his victorious opponents or on his teammates.

Fighting for one’s freedom, struggling towards being free, is like struggling to be a poet or a good Christian or a good Jew or a good Muslim or good Zen Buddhist. You work all day long and achieve some kind of level of success by nightfall, go to sleep and wake up the next morning with the job still to be done. So you start all over again.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.

There are still many causes worth sacrificing for, so much history yet to be made.

And die of nothing but a rage to live.

There is no victory at bargain basement prices.

I’ve done everything every fat person ever has. I’ve tried every diet.

He that can have patience can have what he will.

Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

Perseverance is also key to success in any endeavor, but without perseverance in combat, there can be no victory.

When your desires are strong enough you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve.

All I ever wanted to do with my life was own a little house. I did that way back with ‚Rocky,‘ so now everything I do is just icing on the cake.

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

I’m always trying. Between every book, I think, ‚Well now, it’s time to get down to the serious stuff.‘

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

I’m just like you – I want to be a good human being. I’m doing my best, and I’m working at it. And I’m trying to be a Christian. I’m always amazed when people walk up to me and say, ‚I’m a Christian.‘ I always think, ‚Already? You’ve already got it?‘ I’m working at it. And at my age, I’ll still be working at it at 96.

Personal success or personal satisfaction are not worth another thought if one does achieve them, or worth worrying about if they evade one or are slow in coming. All that is really worth while is action – faithful action, for the world, and in God.

People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision.

A lot of people are focused on taking over the world or doing the biggest thing and getting the most users. I think part of making a difference and doing something cool is focusing intensely.

Do your damnedest in an ostentatious manner all the time.

People have to go through trials and tribulations to get where they at. Do your thing – continue to rock it – because obviously, God wants you here.

I believe that one key to success is to accept truth, no matter how it’s spoken.

The way to develop decisiveness is to start right where you are, with the very next question you face.

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second.

If you’re put on a pedestal, you’re supposed to behave yourself like a pedestal type of person. Pedestals actually have a limited circumference. Not much room to move around.

I decided to pursue music, so I dropped out of school and I told my parents I didn’t want any money from them. I got three jobs and I just hit the ground running.

Players now have a groin injury for months and months, and I often think they don’t really give a toss whether they’re playing or not because they’re getting paid anyway.

There has never yet been a man in our history who led a life of ease whose name is worth remembering.

I know so many people who feel hopeless, and they ask me, ‚What should I do?‘ And I say: ‚Act. Do something.‘ Because that is the best medicine against sadness and depression.

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.

My message to all the activists is to just keep going, and I know it really may seem impossible and hopeless sometimes – it always does – so you just have to keep going because if you try hard enough and long enough you will make a difference.

What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.

Act, and God will act.

Since day one, since the first time I touched the pen, I wanted to be the best at what I do.

That service is the noblest which is rendered for its own sake.