To have a comeback, you have to have a setback.

If it wasn’t for the fun and money, I really don’t know why I’d bother.

Finding good partners is the key to success in anything: in business, in marriage and, especially, in investing.

I wish everyone well, but you need to focus on yourself. You need to stop putting your hand out. Everyone wants hand outs. Everyone wants things for free. You’ve got to put in the work. You’ve got to grind. You’ve got go through the struggle, and you’ve got to get it.

I get up every morning and say, ‚Father, give me strength today, not strength so I can lift 500 pounds, but give me strength, Lord, so when I speak, my words might motivate, might inspire somebody, Lord, when they see me, let them see you. When they hear me, Lord, let them hear you. In your holy name I pray.‘

I am never satisfied with myself and that is what keeps me going – I have no post-satisfaction.

When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.

I think a certain amount of stress in life is good. The stress of just working, which takes effort – I think it keeps you going.

My attitude has always been, if you fall flat on your face, at least you’re moving forward. All you have to do is get back up and try again.

If you want to achieve something, you build the basis for it.

Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.

What with making their way and enjoying what they have won, heroes have no time to think. But the sons of heroes – ah, they have all the necessary leisure.

When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.

Don’t despair, not even over the fact that you don’t despair.

He that struggles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

Man seems to be capable of great virtues but not of small virtues; capable of defying his torturer but not of keeping his temper.

Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.

While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed the worst, and with continued unity of effort, we shall rapidly recover. There is one certainty of the future of a people of the resources, intelligence and character of the people of the United States – that is, prosperity.

Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.

I can take it. The tougher it gets, the cooler I get.

The right man is the one who seizes the moment.

I’ve learned over the years that when I go to that place of passion within me, there’s no force in the universe that can interfere with my completing a project.

It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.

You have to be able to accept failure to get better.

Siren voices tell me, ‚You don’t have to keep going on.‘ And then you think, ‚I’m a writer. What do I do? Sit there watching my wife clean up?‘ I don’t know. I like being a writer.

Talk that does not end in any kind of action is better suppressed altogether.

Those who believe that they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something.

Choose people who lift you up.

It is reasonable to have perfection in our eye that we may always advance toward it, though we know it can never be reached.

A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants.

Discontent, blaming, complaining, self-pity cannot serve as a foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make.

Perseverance is also key to success in any endeavor, but without perseverance in combat, there can be no victory.

My unpredictability is what separates me. If you move in so many ways, your opponent is not focused on what he’s doing. He’s focusing in on what you’re doing, and it freezes him. When they freeze and you hit, they shatter like glass.

Young men and women, your education is ever important – to us, to you, and to God.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

Don’t be a writer; it’s a terrible way to live your life. There’s nothing to be gained from it but poverty and obscurity and solitude. So if you have a taste for all those things, which means that you really are burning to do it, then go ahead and do it. But don’t expect anything from anybody.

Hope is not a resting place but a starting point – a cactus, not a cushion.

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.

Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.

When people are very damaged, they can often meet the world with a kind of defiance.

People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore.

We usually lose today, because there has been a yesterday, and tomorrow is coming.

In crises the most daring course is often safest.

When I prepare, I am not messing around. I find the right places, the right people, and the right environment. Iceland is one of those places.

If I’d just tried for them dinky singles I could’ve batted around .600.

Quitting doesn’t enter my mind.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

You must reward the kind of behavior that you want.

Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.

My understanding of racial discrimination as a child was highly distorted because the most prominent man in Archery was an African-American bishop. When he came home from up north, where he was in charge of A.M.E. churches in five states, it was front-page news. He was the most successful man in my life.

It’s a piece of cake until you get to the top. You find you can’t stop playing the game the way you’ve always played it.

If you tell me there’s something I can’t do, I’ll want to do it even more. Especially when it comes to entertaining.

Be above it! Make the world serve your purpose, but do not serve it.

I’ll never, ever be full. I’ll always be hungry. Obviously, I’m not talking about food. Growing up, I had nothing for such a long time. Someone told me a long time ago, and I’ve never forgotten it, ‚Once you’ve ever been hungry, really, really hungry, then you’ll never, ever be full.‘

I would hear stories about Steve Jobs and feel like he was at 100 percent exactly what he wanted to do, but I’m sure even a Steve Jobs has compromised. Even a Rick Owens has compromised. You know, even a Kanye West has compromised. Sometimes you don’t even know when you’re being compromised till after the fact, and that’s what you regret.

I care very deeply about the people at Tesla. I feel like I have a great debt to the people of Tesla who are making the company successful.

So, for example, a country was into recession right after I was sworn in, a dot-com bust had taken place. Then the attacks of September the 11th, and then of course the great financial meltdown in the -the fundamental question facing any presidency is how do you deal with the hand you’re dealt?

It’s been my experience in politics that you can try and plan it out: ‚I’m going to hit the three ball which will hit the eight ball.‘ You’ve just got to go run and try to do everything right. And then have a little luck.

And I love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it – when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost – Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. Just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward… with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.

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