There are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking; as there are fruits that are not good until they are rotten.

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.

I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.

Anytime we step out boldly to make changes, we take a chance that we might fail. But the only way to get better is to try.

We are going to transform Britain’s rail system from the worst in the world to the best. If you can do a few things like that, when the body gives out, you can say you’ve lived a good life.

You can tell the tree by the fruit it bears. You see it through what the organization is delivering as far as a concrete program. If the tree’s fruit sours or grows brackish, then the time has come to chop it down – bury it and walk over it and plant new seeds.

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.

You forget that the fruits belong to all and that the land belongs to no one.

I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.

I am desperate for change – now – not in 8 years or 12 years, but right now.

I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.

My 2020 Vision for India is to transform it into a developed nation. That cannot be abstract; it is a lifeline.

Political chaos is connected with the decay of language… one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end.

What is the use of writing plays, what is the use of writing anything, if there is not a will which finally moulds chaos itself into a race of gods.

India has to be transformed into a developed nation, a prosperous nation and a healthy nation, with a value system.

If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating as a ladder, the means by which we are translated?

I saw a picture of myself when I came out of the hospital. I didn’t recognize myself.

Men are April when they woo, December when they wed. Maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives.

Some people, they take their form of working out as a religion that they think is better than everyone else’s. I’m not like that. If you have a better way to work out, and you can teach it to me, and I find it to be useful and gets me in better shape, I’m all about.

Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly.

The more you practice, the better you get, the more freedom you have to create.

You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.

The call of death is a call of love. Death can be sweet if we answer it in the affirmative, if we accept it as one of the great eternal forms of life and transformation.

No matter how hard we might wish, we will not be able to transform China’s behavior overnight.

Men are only as good as their technical development allows them to be.

To destroy is always the first step in any creation.

When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.

A ratio of failures is built into the process of writing. The wastebasket has evolved for a reason.

One thing I’ve always loved about the culture at Microsoft is there is nobody who is tougher on us, in terms of what we need to learn and do better, than the people in the company itself. You can walk down these halls, and they’ll tell you, ‚We need to do usability better, push this or that frontier.‘

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct.

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.

When we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, something wonderful happens: God begins to change our desires, and we want to be more like Him.

In almost every area of human endeavor, the practice improves over time. That hasn’t been the case for teaching.

A part of me has become immortal, out of my control.

Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock.

Although personally I am quite content with existing explosives, I feel we must not stand in the path of improvement.

Don’t be getting sloppy drunk and telling them dirty jokes.

I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the make-up made me feel the person he was. I began to know him, and by the time I walked onto the stage he was fully born.

People who think you could wave a magic wand and the legacy of the past will be over are blind.

Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.

I think we’re doing a dreadful job of educating.

If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve man, but deteriorate the cat.

When you think of the exponential speed and scale of expansion of social media or a service, you have to believe that it is equally possible to rapidly transform the lives of those who have long stood on the margins of hope.

My purpose is to help people look at themselves and begin to shift their concepts. Remember, we are not our country, our race, or religion. We are eternal spirits. Seeing ourselves as spiritual beings without label is a way to transform the world and reach a sacred place for all of humanity.

I disagree with everything I used to say.

Milk is for babies. When you grow up you have to drink beer.

A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.

If you go back a few hundred years, what we take for granted today would seem like magic – being able to talk to people over long distances, to transmit images, flying, accessing vast amounts of data like an oracle. These are all things that would have been considered magic a few hundred years ago.

To such an extent does nature delight and abound in variety that among her trees there is not one plant to be found which is exactly like another; and not only among the plants, but among the boughs, the leaves and the fruits, you will not find one which is exactly similar to another.

Lectures should go from being like the family singing around the piano to high-quality concerts.

At twelve I looked like a girl of seventeen. My body was developed and shapely. I still wore the blue dress and the blouse the orphanage provided. They made me look like an overgrown lummox.

The same thing I did in 2013 is what I’m trying to do in 2014, which is continue to improve, continue to shock people. You know, I have several projects coming up between 2014 and 2015, and hopefully by 2015, I’ll have another hour of stand-up material where I’ll be able to go on the road and tour again.

Maintaining a consistent platform also helps improve product support – a significant problem in the software industry.

A prohibitionist is the sort of man one couldn’t care to drink with, even if he drank.

Nothing in the world is irreversible, not even capitalism.

Don’t just eat McDonald’s, get something a bit better. Eat a salad. That’s what fashion is. It’s something that is a bit better.

It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion.

We got rid of a terrible dictator. We gave the Iraqi people an opportunity for a new life under a representative form of government.

Until we’re educating every kid in a fantastic way, until every inner city is cleaned up, there is no shortage of things to do.