There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves.

All that spirits desire, spirits attain.

Unless and until you inspire the people, you will not get results. Imposition will never give you the results. Inspiration will always give you the results.

Besides entertainment and action, I want to educate. You know, as a producer or director, we do have a responsibility to society.

Never mistake motion for action.

You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.

Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible.

If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.

Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.

Hitch your wagon to a star.

If you ask people what they’ve always wanted to do, most people haven’t done it. That breaks my heart.

Things won are done, joy’s soul lies in the doing.

We should not teach children the sciences; but give them a taste for them.

So long as a man imagines that he cannot do this or that, so long as he is determined not to do it; and consequently so long as it is impossible to him that he should do it.

If you can dream it, you can do it.

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.

Loving others always costs us something and requires effort. And you have to decide to do it on purpose. You can’t wait for a feeling to motivate you.

The moment the alarm goes off is the first test; it sets the tone for the rest of the day. The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win – you pass the test.

That’s correct, I flunked out of high school twice because I couldn’t write.

I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about.

The only service a friend can really render is to keep up your courage by holding up to you a mirror in which you can see a noble image of yourself.

Hope is a waking dream.

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.

If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.

The fifth freedom is freedom from ignorance.

Always have something beautiful in sight, even if it’s just a daisy in a jelly glass.

Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.

Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?

But when I hear a great song, I can’t help but be inspired by it, regardless of whatever genre that song falls under.

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

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

I guess I’m just inspired to tell stories.

Love is the flower you’ve got to let grow.

I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.

Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.

If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.

Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.

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.

Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pocket. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past.

Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

Let the path be open to talent.

Imagination decides everything.

Don’t just read the easy stuff. You may be entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.

It’s stasis that kills you off in the end, not ambition.

God has equipped you to handle difficult things. In fact, He has already planted the seeds of discipline and self-control inside you. You just have to water those seeds with His Word to make them grow!

We work to become, not to acquire.

In this knowledge-worker age, it’s now increasingly tied to doing well in school so you can get into better grad schools so you can get better jobs – so the pressure to do well is really high.

There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.

Does wisdom perhaps appear on the earth as a raven which is inspired by the smell of carrion?

I know Elon, we’re very like minded in many ways. We’re not conceptual twins. One thing I want us to do is go to Mars, but for me it’s one thing. He’s singularly focused on that. I think motivation wise, for me I don’t find that Plan B idea motivating. I don’t want a plan B for Earth, I want Plan B to make sure Plan A works.

I love those who do not know how to live for today.

I’m responsible for starting a whole new school of pretension.

More people should read books. It’s the most concentrated experience you can have.

You can become an even more excellent person by constantly setting higher and higher standards for yourself and then by doing everything possible to live up to those standards.

I think life on Earth must be about more than just solving problems… It’s got to be something inspiring, even if it is vicarious.

It’s certainly not wrong to want to be a better person. God gave us that desire.

There is that in the glance of a flower which may at times control the greatest of creation’s braggart lords.