The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.

In all seriousness, people think that it’s the ideas that are important. Well, everyone has ideas, all the time. I tend to write mine down and remember them, but at some point you have to apply the bum to the seat and knock out about sixty five thousand words – that’s how long a novel is.

Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory.

Never mistake motion for action.

The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another.

I know of no single formula for success. But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together.

Man will do many things to get himself loved, he will do all things to get himself envied.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

It’s really hard to guarantee things in life. I guarantee if you get up in the morning and you work out, and you work hard, you will have a better day – 100% guaranteed.

I’m pretty calculating. I take stuff that I know appeals to people’s bad sides and match it up with stuff that appeals to their good sides.

Finite to fail, but infinite to venture.

I’ve been lucky. Opportunities don’t often come along. So, when they do, you have to grab them.

Freedom is what everyone wants – to be able to act and live with freedom. But the only way to get to a place of freedom is through discipline.

I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.

God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.

I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you’re prepared for it.

Most people already know what they’re doing wrong. When I get them to church I want to tell them that you can change.

For a long time, I had the idea that I would do a certain amount of work the best I could, and then I would reach a comfort zone, and I wouldn’t be pushed to write more. I would become a different person. It’s a surprise to me that this hasn’t happened. Your body ages, but your mind is the same.

Before finding music, I didn’t have too many aspirations. I wanted to hang out, make a little money from whatever I had to do.

Overcoming fear is the first step to success for entrepreneurs. The winners all exemplify that, and the hard work and commitment they have shown underlines what is needed to set up a business.

People who think too much before they act don’t act too much.

No one has a greater asset for his business than a man’s pride in his work.

What really motivates people at Facebook is building something that’s worthwhile, that they’re going to be proud to show to friends and family.

I liked his ability to deal with a lot of the negativity that surrounded him. Even though he was in a world that he didn’t want to be in, he still saw the bigger picture.

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.

Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them.

Being happy is a matter of personal taste.

I’ve never wanted to use my age as a gimmick, as something that would get me ahead of other people. I’ve wanted the music to do that.

The best scientist is open to experience and begins with romance – the idea that anything is possible.

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.

Growth is the great separator between those who succeed and those who do not. When I see a person beginning to separate themselves from the pack, it’s almost always due to personal growth.

Music is really driving my whole life.

Winners embrace hard work. They love the discipline of it, the trade-off they’re making to win. Losers, on the other hand, see it as punishment. And that’s the difference.

Feeling sorry for ourselves is the most useless waste of energy on the planet. It does absolutely no good. We can’t let our circumstances or what others do or don’t do control us. We can decide to be happy regardless.

If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.

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 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.

I will keep America moving forward, always forward, for a better America, for an endless enduring dream and a thousand Points of Light. This is my mission, and I will complete it.

I respect Drake not only as a creative person but as a business mind as well. I think Drake’s important.

I’ll die a crazy old man!

Never leave a rhinestone unturned.

No decent career was ever founded on a public.

Get up tomorrow early in the morning, and earlier than you did today, and do the best that you can. Always stay near me, for tomorrow I will have much to do and more than I ever had, and tomorrow blood will leave my body above the breast.

What you put into life is what you get out of it.

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.

I’ve felt like an outsider all my life. It comes from my mother, who always felt like an outsider in my father’s family. She was a powerful woman, and she motivated my father.

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.

Innovation has nothing to do with how many R & D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R & D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.

Fame and power are the objects of all men. Even their partial fruition is gained by very few; and that, too, at the expense of social pleasure, health, conscience, life.

What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds.

We begin to see, therefore, the importance of selecting our environment with the greatest of care, because environment is the mental feeding ground out of which the food that goes into our minds is extracted.

Today we did what we had to do. They counted on America to be passive. They counted wrong.

All my life, whenever it comes time to make a decision, I make it and forget about it.

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

Refuse to be a lazy Christian, and resist a passive, apathetic attitude.

I had rather be first in a village than second at Rome.

If we say it long enough eventually we’re going to reap a harvest. We’re going to get exactly what we’re saying.

Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable; procures success to the weak, and esteem to all.

There are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments and are moving this country forward. They believe, and I believe, that here in America, our success should depend not on accident of birth, but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams.

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.

The important thing is that your teammates have to know you’re pulling for them and you really want them to be successful.