The greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.

Having listened to great songwriters like James Taylor and Carole King, I felt there was nothing new that was coming out that really represented me and the way I felt. So I started writing my own stuff.

If you really want to know what Middle-earth is based on, it’s my wonder and delight in the earth as it is, particularly the natural earth.

I worked my face off.

Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

Happiness is a ball after which we run wherever it rolls, and we push it with our feet when it stops.

I’ve had big record label presidents look me in the face and say, ‚Your music sucks, you don’t know who you are, your music is all over the place, and we don’t know how to market this stuff. Pick a lane and come back to us.‘

It’s in the difficult times that we’re growing and you can’t just rebuke everything hard. We’ve got to endure it and fight the good fight of faith and pass the test.

I don’t write the books. God writes the books and delivers the speeches.

When you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‚em, ‚Certainly I can!‘ Then get busy and find out how to do it.

In the United States, I am a great success, but I am not a celebrity.

Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones.

Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain.

Successful and fortunate crime is called virtue.

Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.

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

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

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.

Do not go gentle into that good night but rage, rage against the dying of the light.

See, winners embrace hard work.

It’s so easy to settle for less than God’s best for us because we don’t always feel like taking responsibility for our behavior or putting forth some effort to do what we need to do so we can accomplish great things for God and help people. But the cost of settling for less is actually harder than being completely obedient to God’s will.

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.

When you create circumstances together, when you try everything, then you can lose. But you need to show the importance.

I like the idea of working in different genres and transcending genres and hopefully finding success, and ultimately make movies people like.

If you only believe that you’re an artist when you have a big advance in your pocket and a single coming out, I would say that’s quite soulless. You have to have a sense of your own greatness and your own ability from a very deep place inside you. I am the one with the litmus test in my hands of what people need to hear next.

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

Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you ready or not, to put this plan into action.

Dave Mackay is my definition of a superstar. The man broke his leg three times, but wouldn’t be carried off. He walked off.

From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.

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

Kites rise highest against the wind – not with it.

Let the people on both sides keep their self-possession, and just as other clouds have cleared away in due time, so will this, and this great nation shall continue to prosper as before.

If you hear a voice within you say ‚you cannot paint,‘ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.

Love is the answer, and you know that for sure; Love is a flower, you’ve got to let it grow.

Live out of your imagination, not your history.

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

Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‚Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.

If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.

The only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is to miss the train before.

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

All very successful commanders are prima donnas and must be so treated.

Confidence is always a good thing to have going into the weekend. Especially where it’s quite difficult to put the lap together.

Keep your nose out the sky, keep your heart to god, and keep your face to the raising sun.

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!

Never mistake motion for action.

You can do what you have to do, and sometimes you can do it even better than you think you can.

I modelled my looks on the town tramp.

Mentally, the only players who survive in the pros are the ones able to manage all their responsibilities. Everybody struggles in different ways.

For me, the essence of the great American Dream is spiritual. I believe that our Constitution is inspired and that it is based on principles that are timeless and universal. This is the reason why 95% of all written constitutions throughout the world are modeled after our Constitution.

Beauty without grace is the hook without the bait.

Everybody has a purpose.

That nice, soft pillow and the warm blanket, and it’s all comfortable, and no one wants to leave that comfort – but if you can wake up early in the morning, get a head start on everyone else that’s still sleeping, get productive time doing things that you need to do – that’s a huge piece to moving your life forward.

After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.

I can live for two months on a good compliment.

Small aim is a crime; have great aim.

The unsuccessful person is burdened by learning, and prefers to walk down familiar paths. Their distaste for learning stunts their growth and limits their influence.

You learn to know a pilot in a storm.