The only way you gain mental toughness is to do things you’re not happy doing. If you continue doing things that you’re satisfied and make you happy, you’re not getting stronger. You’re staying where you’re at. Either you’re getting better, or you’re getting worse. You’re not staying the same.

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.

There are certain things that bother me and certain things that don’t. Personal attacks on me? I think I’m just so used to it.

You know, there is always times where you feel discouraged and things coming against you, but I don’t know if I ever wanted to throw in the towel.

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.

He only earns his freedom and his life Who takes them every day by storm.

There is no substitute for victory.

I look at myself like a show dog. I’ve got to keep her clipped and trimmed and in good shape.

My biggest criticism is how can people be so easily satisfied? Even people with talent.

The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting above average effort.

The truth is, somebody is always talking about you, so you have to let it go… if it’s not a part of your God-given destiny.

Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.

There are some people who hate my guts. But that goes with the territory.

One can survive everything, nowadays, except death, and live down everything except a good reputation.

I was brought up as an only child, and we were very close. But when I was 14, we got evicted. We came home to a padlock, and I looked up at my mom and she was crying, and there was nothing to do.

Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.

Be not simply good – be good for something.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

When one does away with oneself one does the most estimable thing possible: one thereby almost deserves to live.

To live without Hope is to Cease to live.

Whether for life or death, do your own work well.

I had so many people try to talk me out of starting a rocket company, it was crazy.

I always want to listen to people and receive good criticism, but I just don’t have to answer to them; I have to answer to God.

When you play sports like tennis, you’re alone, and that’s a good school for life, but it’s also a good school for life to bring your best and make those around you better, too – helping others in difficult moments.

Don’t give in to excuses that can keep you from really living the best life God has for you.

Do you wish people to think well of you? Don’t speak well of yourself.

The reason I became 297 pounds is because that was comfortable. What was very uncomfortable was running. What was very uncomfortable was being on a diet. What was very uncomfortable was trying to face things that I didn’t want to face. And I also realized, when I was really big, I had no growth. Why? Because I was living comfortable.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.

Your greatest asset is your earning ability. Your greatest resource is your time.

You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lines. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Sometimes in the past when I played something might make me lose focus, or I would go home after a game where I thought I could have played better and I would let it hang over my head for a long time when it shouldn’t.

Every seven years, I sit down and make a whole new plan.

Time and the hour run through the roughest day.

I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.

One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!

I have short goals – to get better every day, to help my teammates every day – but my only ultimate goal is to win an NBA championship. It’s all that matters. I dream about it. I dream about it all the time, how it would look, how it would feel. It would be so amazing.

Ability is nothing without opportunity.

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

Reversing your treatment of the man you have wronged is better than asking his forgiveness.

You will be as much value to others as you have been to yourself.

You always want to quit while you are ahead. You don’t want to be like a fighter who stays too long in the ring until you’re not performing at your best.

As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information.

What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.

Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.

You can’t hire someone to practice for you.

People want to feel hopeful.

Living in America and, of course, just being women in general, we’ve got more strength than we think we do.

Nothing can resist the person who smiles at life – I don’t mean the ironic and disillusioned smile of my grandfather, but the triumphant smile of the person who knows that he will survive, or that at least he will be saved by what seems to be destroying him.

Try and leave this world a little better than you found it, and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate, you have not wasted your time but have done your best.

We all have a tendency to avoid our weaknesses. When we do that, we never progress or get any better.

Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.

If a whole bunch of people want to make your life a living hell, they’re gonna do it.

You simply have to accept that your demons are a part of you.

If we are to be happy, we must first react against our tendency to follow the line of least resistance, a tendency that causes us either to remain as we are, or to look primarily to activities external to ourselves for what will provide new impetus to our lives.

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

Well, I wouldn’t say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great.

I tried acting, liked it, and stuck with it. I saw it as the way I would keep that promise to myself of getting back at those who had made my school life a misery.

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.

You can’t try to do things; you simply must do them.

I cry so much less than I used to. I used to be one of the most teary people.