The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.

My life is not to be somebody else’s impact – you know what I mean?

The way I approach this thing, when I started to get my head screwed on straight and really trying to make something of myself as an artist, when I was 19 or 20, it became more about function for me. Like, what is this song doing to you? What is the function of this type of artform? What is it doing?

There are many sham diamonds in this life which pass for real, and vice versa.

Sometimes we be playing the politics too much and forget who we are just to win.

Only by contending with challenges that seem to be beyond your strength to handle at the moment you can grow more surely toward the stars.

If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground.

I’m chasing perfection.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

If what you are doing is not moving you towards your goals, then it’s moving you away from your goals.

I made my fair share of mistakes.

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

Either you run the day or the day runs you.

To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavors with his utmost care to hide his poverty from others, and his idleness from himself.

Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.

Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling to recognize them, since that is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion.

I do not abuse players. I talk to myself; I abuse myself. It’s my way of letting off steam. I do it after every century; I do not do it always. I keep telling myself: ‚Improve, improve from the previous match, the previous shot. You can do it.‘

I really have no interest in myself.

Next to excellence is the appreciation of it.

I don’t believe in doing things to manufacture my body to appeal to what I think people might like.

Don’t gain the world and lose your soul; wisdom is better than silver or gold.

I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.

I write my own songs. I made my own videos. I pick my producers. Nothing goes out without my permission. It’s all authentic.

It’s like, remember who you always were, where you came from, who your parents were, how they raised you. Because that authentic self is going to follow you all through life, so make sure that it’s solid so it’s something that you can hold on and be proud of for the rest of your life.

One that desires to excel should endeavor in those things that are in themselves most excellent.

I am who I am. That’s why my friends and peers respect and appreciate me. I don’t change or cater my actions to fit my surroundings. I’m myself 24/7. People appreciate that.

The aim of a college education is to teach you to know a good man when you see one.

If you would take, you must first give, this is the beginning of intelligence.

I don’t want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.

Don’t let the incidents which take place in life bring you low. And certainly don’t whine. You can be brought low, that’s OK, but don’t be reduced by them. Just say, ‚That’s life.‘

Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death.

Every human being is under construction from conception to death.

He shines in the second rank, who is eclipsed in the first.

A fit body gives you confidence. And there’s nothing more impressive than a great attitude, which you can wear on your sleeve. But you’ll have to remember the difference between being rude and being confident.

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.

Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how you’re going to live your life.

When a person cannot deceive himself the chances are against his being able to deceive other people.

If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.

The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself.

I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.

I don’t know how to live good. I only know how to suffer.

I guess there is nothing that will get your mind off everything like golf. I have never been depressed enough to take up the game, but they say you get so sore at yourself you forget to hate your enemies.

Believing in progress does not mean believing that any progress has yet been made.

Running taught me valuable lessons. In cross-country competition, training counted more than intrinsic ability, and I could compensate for a lack of natural aptitude with diligence and discipline. I applied this in everything I did.

Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m not sure a bad person can write a good book, If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for.

Only you can control your future.

From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned.

He who seeks rest finds boredom. He who seeks work finds rest.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.

The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.

The best thing I did was to choose the right heroes.

Everybody wants to be me. What can I say?

You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That’s how you know you’re still alive.

Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.

I grew up cursing a lot.

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

The prospect of dating someone in her twenties becomes less appealing as you get older. At some point in your life, your tolerance level goes down and you realize that, with someone much younger, there’s nothing really to talk about.

Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you’re exactly the same.

What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

I have made the mistaken assumption – and I will attempt to be better at this – of thinking that because somebody is on Twitter and is attacking me that it is open season. And that is my mistake.