The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain no matter what happens.

Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.

I have a great respect for incremental improvement, and I’ve done that sort of thing in my life, but I’ve always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don’t know why. Because they’re harder. They’re much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you’ve completely failed.

The struggle alone pleases us, not the victory.

What you don’t do can be a destructive force.

God sent me on earth. He send me to do something, and nobody can stop me. If God want to stop me, then I stop. Man never can.

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

My experience has been that work is almost the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.

There is little success where there is little laughter.

No one was ever great without some portion of divine inspiration.

I know that I always wanted things. I was always proud of my people, proud of my home, but I always wanted more. I think most people do.

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.

I began writing at the age of 5, but there was a dark period between the ages of 8 and 16 when I didn’t write. I started again at 16 and have no idea why, but it was suddenly the only thing I wanted to do.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

You might win some, you might lose some. But you go in, you challenge yourself, you become a better man, a better individual, a better fighter.

The more I see of deer, the more I admire them as mountaineers. They make their way into the heart of the roughest solitudes with smooth reserve of strength, through dense belts of brush and forest encumbered with fallen trees and boulder piles, across canons, roaring streams, and snow-fields, ever showing forth beauty and courage.

Genius always gives its best at first; prudence, at last.

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

Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event.

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

As a man sow, shall he reap. and I know that talk is cheap. But the heat of the battle is as sweet as the victory.

Follow your honest convictions and be strong.

The boy who is going to make a great man must not make up his mind merely to overcome a thousand obstacles, but to win in spite of a thousand repulses and defeats.

There are 309 million people out there that are trying to improve their lot in life. And we’ve got a system that allows them to do it.

I have always liked running, so it wasn’t particularly difficult to make it a habit. All you need is a pair of running shoes and you can do it anywhere. It does not require anybody to do it with, and so I found the sport perfectly fits me as a person who tends to be independent and individualistic.

I always make my dreams into goals.

Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.

You are going to let the fear of poverty govern you life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live.

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.

Success has always been a great liar.

Nothing is stopping me from doing what I love to do.

I think you can have 10,000 explanations for failure, but no good explanation for success.

Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much, are the three pillars of learning.

I don’t think about that. I wasn’t a kid growing up saying one day I’ll get an Oscar and make a speech. That wasn’t on my mind. So what I do is the best work I can do.

I try to make it look easy, but the behind-the-scenes stuff is the challenge.

There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.

Forward, as occasion offers. Never look round to see whether any shall note it… Be satisfied with success in even the smallest matter, and think that even such a result is no trifle.

If one dream dies, dream another dream. If you get knocked down, get back up and go again.

I didn’t want to lift weights and get all big; I just wanted to get cut.

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.

A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.

People think because I’ve got some success, I’ve made it, but in my eyes it’s like, ‚How long has Jay Z been in the business? How many albums has he got?‘ Not that I’m trying to be Jay Z, but I am trying to be around for a long time.

I went through every emotion with tryna pursue what I’m doing, you know what I mean? And I think what’s gon‘ separate whoever’s gon go for something, that you ain’t gon‘ quit.

A passionate belief in your business and personal objectives can make all the difference between success and failure. If you aren’t proud of what you’re doing, why should anybody else be?

I’m inspired by people who keep on rolling, no matter their age.

Control your own destiny! Control your own destiny!

Self-belief and hard work will always earn you success.

Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.

Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.

There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.

It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.

A good indignation brings out all one’s powers.

When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, ‚Why god? Why me?‘ and the thundering voice of God answered, ‚There’s just something about you that pisses me off.‘

Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.

You aren’t going to find anybody that’s going to be successful without making a sacrifice and without perseverance.

A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he’ll never crow. I have seen the light and I’m crowing.

Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.

It’s better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life.

I’d rather be a victor than a victim.