There wasn’t much as a kid that inspired me in what I did as an adult, but I was always very interested in what motivates people, and in telling stories and building things.

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.

If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I’d still swim. And I’d despise the one who gave up.

Chance gives rise to thoughts, and chance removes them; no art can keep or acquire them.

You should treat a muse like a fairy.

When we build, let us think that we build for ever.

The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.

When I get down, I don’t waller around for long.

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.

Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.

I booked my first studio at like 12 or 13. Somewhere in that season of my life, singing along with the radio became me wanting to be on radio, you know. And writing Langston Hughes replica poems became me wanting to write like Stevie Wonder.

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.

It’s probably not an accident that the films that I care about happen to be about issues that matter to me, stories that I want to tell.

We can take a ‚It was hard to get there.‘ But we ain’t taking no loss. We’re going to win.

A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are.

There is no man living that can not do more than he thinks he can.

Nearly all the things I do that are of any merit at all start off just being good fun, and I think I’m sort of building up to doing something else quite soon.

I’ve made my share of mistakes along the way, but if I have changed even one life for the better, I haven’t lived in vain.

Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.

You know, when I have a bad game, it continues to humble me and know that, you know, you still have work to do and you still have a lot of people to impress.

Art! Who comprehends her? With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?

Failure is not an option. Everyone has to succeed.

Make yourself necessary to somebody.

Music helps me tell my story. That’s where I can really be heard. But there’s so much focus on the things that aren’t music.

I’m a can-do girl.

Don’t be humble… you’re not that great.

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

I am completely fascinated by the differences and comparisons between real life and fairy tales because we’re raised as little girls to think that we’re a princess and that Prince Charming is going to sweep us off our feet.

I want people to follow their dreams, yes… but I’m not interested in telling young black kids how to be rappers… I want to show them that there’s so many other paths you can take, besides a rapper or basketball player.

To excel at the highest level – or any level, really – you need to believe in yourself, and hands down, one of the biggest contributors to my self-confidence has been private coaching.

If you’re going to wake up early all the time, and you’re working hard, and you’re working out, sometimes you’re going to get tired. It’s OK. It’s acceptable – somewhat. We’re all human, unfortunately.

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

We should never lose an occasion. Opportunity is more powerful even than conquerors and prophets.

I don’t listen to a lot of new stuff. I just like the old stuff. It’s all quite dramatic and atmospheric. You’d have an entire story in song. I never listen to, like, white music – I couldn’t sing you a Zeppelin or Floyd song.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

I’m really bad with answering questions. Usually, I don’t even answer them. I try to find inspiration inside of the question. I think, and I jump from one beam of inspiration or energy to the next, as opposed to explaining the energy.

Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don’t ever apologize for anything.

I know I’m stronger in the songs than I really am. Sometimes I need to hear it myself. We all need to hear those empowering songs to remind us.

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.

If you only believe that you’re an artist when you have a big advance in your pocket and a single coming out, I would say that’s quite soulless. You have to have a sense of your own greatness and your own ability from a very deep place inside you. I am the one with the litmus test in my hands of what people need to hear next.

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels.

Right discipline consists, not in external compulsion, but in the habits of mind which lead spontaneously to desirable rather than undesirable activities.

The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.

When I was a kid, I had a tendency to criticize. But when I did, my mum would whisk me off to the bathroom to stand in front of a mirror. Ten minutes, never less. To think about how criticism is a poor reflection on the one who criticizes.

If you’re bored with life – you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things – you don’t have enough goals.

The strongest influences in my life and my work are always whomever I love. Whomever I love and am with most of the time, or whomever I remember most vividly. I think that’s true of everyone, don’t you?

One today is worth two tomorrows.

There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life.

I’ve got my Grammys on top of my piano and I look at them when I play.

It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.

People tend to think that life really does progress for everyone eventually, that people progress, but actually only some people progress. The rest of the people don’t.

Everything in the world exists to end up in a book.

I am sure as everyone knows that I am not the happiest if I don’t do a good job in qualifying or the race.

You were not created to just get by with an average, unrewarding, or unfulfilling life. God created you to leave your mark on this generation.

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.

What we face may look insurmountable. But I learned something from all those years of training and competing. I learned something from all those sets and reps when I didn’t think I could lift another ounce of weight. What I learned is that we are always stronger than we know.

We all sort of do want incentives for creative people to still exist at a certain level. You know, maybe rock stars shouldn’t make as much; who knows? But you want as much creativity to take place in the future as took place in the past.