We have to wake up. We have to refuse to be a clone.

At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.

By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.

A day wasted on others is not wasted on one’s self.

I try to be the same person I was yesterday.

I don’t think there’s anyone who would say they don’t want or need more of God’s power in their life.

The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life.

When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.

I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn’t know how to get along without it.

Be not a slave of words.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

Though ambition in itself is a vice, it often is also the parent of virtue.

What spectacle can be more edifying or more seasonable, than that of Liberty and Learning, each leaning on the other for their mutual and surest support?

Perfectionism is not the same thing as striving to be our best. Perfectionism is not about healthy achievement and growth; it’s a shield.

Music is really driving my whole life.

We’re not a fragile people. We’re not a frightful people. Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don’t look to be ruled.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.

Character is destiny.

It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.

But for me to have the opportunity to stand in front of a bunch of executives and present myself, I had to hustle in my own way. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was that they didn’t get that. No joke – I’d leave meetings crying all the time.

I never expected to be anybody important.

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

I was in my late thirties when my eyes were opened to truth in God’s Word that showed me I wasn’t living the abundant life Jesus died for me to have. I had a very negative mindset and was miserable most of the time because of the abuse I had experienced throughout my childhood.

You have to feel confident. If you don’t, then you’re going to be hesitant and defensive, and there’ll be a lot of things working against you.

The thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents.

Do your job. Do it the best you can. Do it right, because somebody, sometimes your best friend, is waiting for you to screw up so she can take your place.

The greatest difficulty always comes right before the birth of a dream.

What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.

We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.

I am just one human being.

It is the set of the sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we will go.

A friend doesn’t go on a diet because you are fat.

Everybody wants to be me. What can I say?

The most important thing is to read as much as you can, like I did. It will give you an understanding of what makes good writing and it will enlarge your vocabulary.

My only fault is that I don’t realize how great I really am.

I’m no natural beauty. If I’m gonna have any looks at all, I’m gonna have to create them.

Anyone can have a good day, but you have to be able to perform on a bad day.

When one has not had a good father, one must create one.

I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.

I’m my own worst critic, and if I don’t pull off what I think I wanted to do in my head, then I won’t be a happy girl.

Yeah we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.

I believe that anyone can conquer fear by doing the things he fears to do, provided he keeps doing them until he gets a record of successful experience behind him.

Humility is not something that comes naturally. But it is a cardinal virtue that should be pursued more than any other.

Freedom is relative.

Commit yourself to a mighty purpose.

There’s definitely going to be things that I’m not very good at, things I can improve.

A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

The answer to the problem of inequality is for the people who are fortunate enough to either have been gifted or deserved more to do everything they can to make the communities around them as strong as they possibly can.

Growth is the great separator between those who succeed and those who do not. When I see a person beginning to separate themselves from the pack, it’s almost always due to personal growth.

I’m a decent cook; I’m a decent chef. None of my friends would ever have hired me at any point in my career. Period.

Individuality is founded in feeling; and the recesses of feeling, the darker, blinder strata of character, are the only places in the world in which we catch real fact in the making, and directly perceive how events happen, and how work is actually done.

If you’re afraid to fail, then you’re probably going to fail.

If I see something sagging, bagging or dragging I’ll get it nipped, tucked or sucked.

I have only one counsel for you – be master.

Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

People want you to fail.

Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth.

Never complain. Never explain.

I have the people behind me and the people are my strength.