The man of genius inspires us with a boundless confidence in our own powers.

The proper study of mankind is woman.

Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power.

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

My entire childhood was steeped in poverty. For me, poverty, in a way, was the first inspiration of my life, a commitment to do something for the poor.

It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires great strength to decide on what to do.

When my ancestors came from Africa, they were shackled by our neck, our wrists, and our ankles in steel chains. I’ve turned those steel chains into gold to symbolize the fact that I’m still a slave, only my price tag is higher.

As much as I love the Western genre, I figured if I kept doing those, I’d eventually run out of steam on that, and that would’ve been the end of it.

If you can dream it, you can do it.

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

I intend to inspire people with my story: motivate young people that grew up like myself, or even not like myself. Just, you know, go through the human experience.

With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

I had to get rich so I could sing like I was poor again.

Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.

Never lose a holy curiosity.

To create something you must be something.

Get someone else to blow your horn and the sound will carry twice as far.

Few enterprises of great labor or hazard would be undertaken if we had not the power of magnifying the advantages we expect from them.

When I was 8 years old, I saw ‚Raiders of the Lost Ark‘ in Charlotte, North Carolina. I walked out of there and was so inspired. I loved the movie, and I knew I wanted to be that guy.

We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor – got her master’s with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.

You know, when I have a bad game, it continues to humble me and know that, you know, you still have work to do and you still have a lot of people to impress.

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.

Opportunity makes a thief.

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

I’m just writing, writing, writing. I keep these tablets on me until I’m inspired to go back in and make the music. I never take a break from my pen, because I pride myself on that.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.

Part of the issue of achievement is to be able to set realistic goals, but that’s one of the hardest things to do because you don’t always know exactly where you’re going, and you shouldn’t.

I say that in the most humble way: I always knew that I could perform with the best of ‚em and I could deliver with the best of ‚em.

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

If you start by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work towards getting it.

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

My music definitely comes from a place of experience. Everything connects to a truth.

The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.

The problem with writing a book in verse is, to be successful, it has to sound like you knocked it off on a rainy Friday afternoon. It has to sound easy. When you can do it, it helps tremendously because it’s a thing that forces kids to read on. You have this unconsummated feeling if you stop.

That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

Without work, all life goes rotten. But when work is soulless, life stifles and dies.

I am confident I will set foot again in Tibet in my lifetime.

You’re not better than anybody else, but you’re not less than anybody else. You’re a child of the Most High God.

I subscribe to the myth that an artist’s creativity comes from torment. Once that’s fixed, what do you draw on?

Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won.

My philosophy in life is, Decide what you want to do. You have to have something to hope for.

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.

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.

A loving heart is the truest wisdom.

I think if I keep working in the way that I am, from the heart and from passion and with love, well, the fruits of that will keep coming.

I think it’s quite great to set yourself a big challenge, and then you’ve got another reason for keeping fit.

It’s lack that gives us inspiration. It’s not fullness.

Start wide, expand further, and never look back.

Let’s be very clear: Strong men – men who are truly role models – don’t need to put down women to make themselves feel powerful. People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together.

You have to be someone.

Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.

My confidence is easy to shake. I am very well aware of all of my flaws. I am aware of all the insecurities that I have.

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

I teach children to be winners.

I’m just a kid that defied the odds. I’m just a kid that ignored the doubt. I’m just a kid from a little place in Dublin, Ireland, that went all the way, and I’m going to continue to go all the way.

It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.

Since the team understands that the leader is de facto in charge, in that respect, a leader has nothing to prove. But in another respect, a leader has everything to prove: Every member of the team must develop the trust and confidence that their leader will exercise good judgment, remain calm, and make the right decisions when it matters most.

Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.