The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.

I will be unhappy if I know I have not accomplished something I should have done that was possible.

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.

Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.

Don’t work for recognition, but do work worthy of recognition.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

If you get knocked down – setbacks in life, like applying for a job if they don’t hire you – keep trying, keep getting up, keep doing it.

The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become.

We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.

People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come in to the mind of others.

I like to be in control of how I look and how I feel and how I act.

Pretension is a poor joke that you play on yourself. Snap out of it. Recognise your strengths, work on your weaknesses. Real achievement is liking what you see in the mirror every morning.

The biggest guru-mantra is: never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you.

People need motivation to do anything. I don’t think human beings learn anything without desperation.

Correcting bad habits cannot be done by forbidding or punishment.

In this business you have to develop a thick skin, but I’m always going to feel everything. It’s my nature.

I am not very good with relationships. With anyone. I can’t be locked up with anyone for too long.

I know I want to always do the best I can.

The higher we are placed, the more humbly we should walk.

What by a straight path cannot be reached by crooked ways is never won.

When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.

If you’re not producing as much as you consume, or perhaps a little more, then clearly we cannot use the big organization of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us, and it can’t be of very much use to yourself.

Everything is my demon muse. I have a muse which whispers in my ear and says, ‚Do this, do that,‘ but it’s my demon who provokes me.

To not follow your passion in life is a recipe for failure and unhappiness.

The true artist is not proud: he unfortunately sees that art has no limits; he feels darkly how far he is from the goal, and though he may be admired by others, he is sad not to have reached that point to which his better genius only appears as a distant, guiding sun.

We are often raised as dependents then given over to teachers. It’s experience and exploration that can transform us and lead to mastery.

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.

The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.

A man only learns in two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people.

You don’t have the same mentality as you did five years ago – even one year. People are always changing, and I believe that everyone deserves the space to change and for people to recognize their change.

I’ve always believed that you can think positive just as well as you can think negative.

Why don’t you start believing that no matter what you have or haven’t done, that your best days are still out in front of you.

I was always taught not to answer no questions. I’m not really good at answering them because I get agitated so fast.

One advantage in keeping a diary is that you become aware with reassuring clarity of the changes which you constantly suffer.

I didn’t work hard to sit down and not work.

Love is the answer to everything. It’s the only reason to do anything. If you don’t write stories you love, you’ll never make it. If you don’t write stories that other people love, you’ll never make it.

The wise use of your freedom to make your own decisions is crucial to your spiritual growth, now and for eternity.

I liked school, but I used to dread those moments when the teacher would call me up to give an oral report. I forced myself to deal with it and not dwell on the class in front of me – to keep a straight face, give the report and concentrate on getting it right. That’s normally how I perform. That’s how I am.

Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.

I was a kind of hyper-intense person in my twenties and very impatient.

You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.

The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.

I spent three days a week for 10 years educating myself in the public library, and it’s better than college. People should educate themselves – you can get a complete education for no money. At the end of 10 years, I had read every book in the library and I’d written a thousand stories.

He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty.

Many years ago, I concluded that a few hair shirts were part of the mental wardrobe of every man. The president differs from other men in that he has a more extensive wardrobe.

I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.

Remind yourself that the greatest technique for bringing peace into your life is to always choose being kind when you have a choice between being right or being kind.

God wants to use you to make other people happy! And the happier you make others, the happier you will be because you reap what you sow.

Change is always tough. Even for those who see themselves as agents of change, the process of starting a new thing can cause times of disorientation, uncertainty and insecurity.

Execute every act of thy life as though it were thy last.

Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.

In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.

What we think, we become.

For me, money is not my definition of success. Inspiring people is a definition of success.

To deal with individual human needs at the everyday level can be noble sometimes.

If your treat an individual… as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.

If your inner life is not producing what you would like on the outside, don’t be discouraged… just be willing to change.

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.

I’m interested in what motivates individuals to participate in atrocious acts to support their ideological identification.