What is easy is seldom excellent.

Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.

He who laughs best today, will also laughs last.

Imagine your family finally making it from nothing to something, and finally getting things going, and finally buying a beautiful house and taking care of your children – and the next day, it’s completely all gone. Zero. Boom. Flat broke. So that’s when I had to man up.

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.

There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things that we could use.

I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars; there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that.

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

If my films don’t show a profit, I know I’m doing something right.

It feels good being a restaurant owner because it’s part of my dreams of being the biggest mogul.

The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.

I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near.

Honor means that a man is not exceptional; fame, that he is. Fame is something which must be won; honor, only something which must not be lost.

I make such big efforts to forget things and I can’t tell the story of my life because, thank God, I’m still living it.

If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

If cash comes with fame, come fame; if cash comes without fame, come cash.

He has achieved success who has worked well, laughed often, and loved much.

I’ve had all six of my books reach the New York Times bestseller list, which is especially rewarding seeing as I flunked out of high school twice because I couldn’t write. It just goes to show you that we learn from our mistakes.

If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent and you will have given your children the greatest of all blessings.

The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking.

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.

Successful people will always tell you you can do something. It’s the people who have never accomplished anything who will always discourage you from trying to achieve excellent things.

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.

Often, in the real world, it’s not the smart that get ahead but the bold.

The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.

Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.

In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm… in the real world all rests on perseverance.

I’ve never gone into business to make money. Every Virgin product and service has been made into a reality to make a positive difference in people’s lives. And by focusing on the happiness of our customers, we have been able to build a successful group of companies.

Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish.

I firmly believe that unless one has tasted the bitter pill of failure, one cannot aspire enough for success.

Nowadays, manners are easy and life is hard.

Innovation has nothing to do with how many R & D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R & D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.

You have to be a bastard to make it, and that’s a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on earth.

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

If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.

Years ago, when I first started being a big star, I had fans that were fanatical. It was when ‚Jolene‘ was a big hit.

Everybody has goals, aspirations or whatever, and everybody has been at a point in their life where nobody believed in them.

Life doesn’t require that we be the best, only that we try our best.

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

It always seems impossible until it’s done.

Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.

Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.

To the person with a firm purpose all men and things are servants.

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

I guess that’s one of the things about growing up in the fifties – it never occurred to me that you wouldn’t be at least as successful as your parents.

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.

For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward.

The best people renounce all for one goal, the eternal fame of mortals; but most people stuff themselves like cattle.

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

Magic has five championships. I have five championships. I’m pretty sure we both know what we’re doing.

I want a president with a record of public service, someone whose life’s work shows our children that we don’t chase fame and fortune for ourselves: we fight to give everyone a chance to succeed.

The more centuries that I am able to score, the happier I will be.

Of course it would be nice for everybody and myself if we could win but we can still have a personal or a team win if we achieve a target that is effectively a win for us.

I have only one understanding of development and of making success, and that’s by going step by step.

It’s not an experiment if you know it’s going to work.

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

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.

The starting point of all achievement is desire.

It’s one of the few regrets of my presidency – that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. There’s no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I’ll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.