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.

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

I’m living in the present, thinking about the past, hoping for the future.

When facing a difficult task, act as though it is impossible to fail. If you are going after Moby Dick, take along the tartar sauce.

Your timeless self does not age and has no fear of the future. Contemplate your physical self and all its possessions, and practice laughing peacefully at it all.

While musical experts of the world focus on what choir members can do, I would like to focus on what choir members can be.

Travel teaches toleration.

A man is not paid for having a head and hands, but for using them.

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

I always say, decisions I make, I live with them. There’s always ways you can correct them or ways you can do them better. At the end of the day, I live with them.

I’m very, very serious – I’m serious enough not to take myself too seriously. That means I can be completely wedded to the moment. But when I leave that moment, I want to be completely wedded to the next moment.

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

Failure after long perseverance is much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be called a failure.

We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.

Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.

A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.

As I grow up, the lessons I learn in love and relationships and how we treat each other are hopefully maturing – hopefully.

Relish everything that’s inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.

I’m not well-read, but when I read, I read well.

I like to recede away from classifications. You might say that indicates a fundamental lack of commitment. I suppose that’s true to some degree.

Leisure is the time for doing something useful. This leisure the diligent person will obtain the lazy one never.

Wars of nations are fought to change maps. But wars of poverty are fought to map change.

As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.

I thought I couldn’t make a difference because I was too small.

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

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.

The pleasure of work is open to anyone who can develop some specialised skill, provided that he can get satisfaction from the exercise of his skill without demanding universal applause.

You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.

Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching.

To me, if life boils down to one thing, it’s movement. To live is to keep moving.

If there be no enemy there’s no fight. If no fight, no victory and if no victory there is no crown.

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

All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened.

The learning and knowledge that we have, is, at the most, but little compared with that of which we are ignorant.

To lead people walk behind them.

Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.

I always have to be writing.

Before the effect one believes in different causes than one does after the effect.

Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

I never got into training to be an All-Ireland boxing champ or to win a belt. At the start, I just got into it to learn how to defend myself when I got into situations.

Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.

Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting.

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.

In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.

And I love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it – when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost – Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. Just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward… with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.

Nothing recedes like progress.

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.

Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture. If you’re not having fun, then it’s probably time to call it quits and try something else.

Let us be shy no longer. Let us go to our strength. Let us offer hope. Let us tell the world that a new age is not only possible but probable.

If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.

I can do whatever I want.

To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.

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

By the time you get dressed, drive out there, play 18 holes and come home, you’ve blown seven hours. There are better things you can do with your time.

He only employs his passion who can make no use of his reason.

To reach a port, we must sail – sail, not tie at anchor – sail, not drift.

How few there are who have courage enough to own their faults, or resolution enough to mend them.

The ninety and nine are with dreams, content but the hope of the world made new, is the hundredth man who is grimly bent on making those dreams come true.

There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse.