Too many people measure how successful they are by how much money they make or the people that they associate with. In my opinion, true success should be measured by how happy you are.

It’s honestly true that money means nothing to me.

Fame doesn’t fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.

And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh.

Even as you make progress, you need the discipline to keep from backtracking and sabotaging the success as it’s happening.

You can’t be afraid to fail. It’s the only way you succeed – you’re not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that.

Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.

Suspicion is far more to be wrong than right; more often unjust than just. It is no friend to virtue, and always an enemy to happiness.

The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.

The attempt to combine wisdom and power has only rarely been successful and then only for a short while.

I hate all sports as rabidly as a person who likes sports hates common sense.

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.

Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent.

What’s real freedom? Real freedom is being able to not have my way and still be just as happy as if I did.

A man lives by believing something: not by debating and arguing about many things.

I love making people laugh. And I love laughing.

Barack Obama would not be President if he were dark skin. You know what I mean? That’s just the truth. I might not be as successful as I am now if I was dark skin.

Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.

The greatest happiness is to know the source of unhappiness.

Little things affect little minds.

Everywhere I go, the kids call me ‚the book lady.‘ The older I get, the more appreciative I seem to be of the ‚book lady‘ title. It makes me feel more like a legitimate person, not just a singer or an entertainer. But it makes me feel like I’ve done something good with my life and with my success.

I think the reason my stories have been so successful is that I have a strong sense of metaphor.

The aim of life is appreciation; there is no sense in not appreciating things; and there is no sense in having more of them if you have less appreciation of them.

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

History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.

Things don’t have to change the world to be important.

Life well spent is long.

I purposely don’t talk about money, because people are already skeptical about TV preachers. But I do say that I want you to be blessed. To me, prosperity is having health, having great children, having peace, good relationships. It’s not about the money.

True happiness is… to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.

I attribute my success to this – I never gave or took any excuse.

Hollywood has a way of making everything seem like an overnight success.

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

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.

When I was 11, the whole world was closed to me. I just felt I was on the outside of the world.

I think as long as I do a good job and put in all my effort to proving that I’m worth it, then everything should be fine.

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

I always have an optimistic view, no matter what it is.

Go up in an airplane. Go high enough, and it’s like we don’t even exist.

If a man or woman is born ten years sooner or later, their whole aspect and performance shall be different.

I always make my dreams into goals.

He who is contented is rich.

My friends ask me if I want more kids, and I always say yes, I want more; it’s the best thing you can have in your life.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

It would be my guess that Madonna is not a very happy woman. From my own experience, having gone through persona changes like that, that kind of clawing need to be the center of attention is not a pleasant place to be.

I have a living will and I have friends, and I have money and I have hope.

I used to feel unsafe right in the moment of an accomplishment – I felt the ground fall from under my feet because this could be the end. And even now, while everyone is celebrating, I’m on to the next thing. I don’t want to get lost in this big cushion of success.

I’ve never understood why people consider youth a time of freedom and joy. It’s probably because they have forgotten their own.

Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.

Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits.

My ultimate goal is to end up being happy. Most of the time.

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.

I was sure I’d set the world on fire, and it was hard for a young feller like me to realize the truth – that I hadn’t set the world on fire, and I was totally unprepared to handle the consequences if ‚The Big Trail‘ had been a success and launched me as a star.

Changing is not just changing the things outside of us. First of all we need the right view that transcends all notions including of being and non-being, creator and creature, mind and spirit. That kind of insight is crucial for transformation and healing.

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

All the awards in the world, you can get into all the nightclubs, they’ll send you the nicest clothes. Nothing better than walking into your dad’s restaurant and seeing a smile on his face and knowing that your mom and dad and your sister are real proud of you.

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

I don’t have this feeling that 70 is really old.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Little minds are interested in the extraordinary; great minds in the commonplace.

Men of age object too much, consult too long, adventure too little, repent too soon, and seldom drive business home to the full period, but content themselves with a mediocrity of success.

The fortune which nobody sees makes a person happy and unenvied.