You shall, I question not, find a way to the top if you diligently seek for it; for nature hath placed nothing so high that it is out of the reach of industry and valor.

My father, who was jailed for stealing on more than one occasion, just abandoned his fatherly responsibilities and disappeared. I grew up working from the time I was nine years of age. Money was a big issue everywhere I lived.

I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and apologetic mouse, but to roar like a lion out of pride in my profession.

If one dream dies, dream another dream. If you get knocked down, get back up and go again.

The man who has the will to undergo all labor may win to any good.

We learned about honesty and integrity – that the truth matters… that you don’t take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules… and success doesn’t count unless you earn it fair and square.

A lot of people are focused on taking over the world or doing the biggest thing and getting the most users. I think part of making a difference and doing something cool is focusing intensely.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

As for me, prizes are nothing. My prize is my work.

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.

You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That’s how you know you’re still alive.

All nature is but art unknown to thee.

There are trees of a thousand sorts, and all have their several fruits; and I feel the most unhappy man in the world not to know them, for I am well assured that they are all valuable. I bring home specimens of them, and also of the land.

To whom it may concern: It is springtime. It is late afternoon.

I think what motivates people is not great hate, but great love for other people.

Well, in order for me to be successful… In order to be a great artist – musician, actor, painter, whatever – you must be able to be private in public at all times.

If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.

If I see a mountain, I just pick up and hike it.

God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.

I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.

The more successful I become, the more I need a man.

Do what nobody else can do for you. Omit to do anything else.

I bought a company in the mid-’90s called Dexter Shoe and paid $400 million for it. And it went to zero. And I gave about $400 million worth of Berkshire stock, which is probably now worth $400 billion. But I’ve made lots of dumb decisions. That’s part of the game.

I’ll never make it, it will never happen, because they’re never going to hear me ‚cause they’re screaming all the time.

Never give in – never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.

Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn’t be done.

If people take anything from my music, it should be motivation to know that anything is possible as long as you keep working at it and don’t back down.

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.

The left paw has done me well over the years. I’m not a scientist, I’m a martial artist.

I believe you never get tired by doing work. You get tired when you don’t work. When you clean your house, you don’t get tired; it gives you satisfaction.

There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.

Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.

I don’t think about the end game. I’ve got lots to occupy my mind. It’s the rage that keeps me going.

If my future were determined just by my performance on a standardized test, I wouldn’t be here. I guarantee you that.

Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.

I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.

A great mind becomes a great fortune.

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow-men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition is yet to be developed.

But if I have a lot of imagination, I could tell myself whatever I wanted, you know. I handle myself quite well. I’m kind of fascist with myself, you know. There’s no discussion. There is an order. You follow it.

We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.

Everybody should do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.

I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world.

There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.

I went to a lovely school, and I got an incredible education. And I actually think that my education is what really sets me apart, ‚cause I’m very smart.

A goal is a dream with a deadline.

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.

I always was that person who was hard on myself and challenged myself no matter what I was doing, whether it was passing third grade or playing basketball.

At seventy-seven it is time to be in earnest.

My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose – somehow we win out.

We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us thru that darkness to a safe and sane future.

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

Immense power is acquired by assuring yourself in your secret reveries that you were born to control affairs.

I suppose your security is your success and your key to success is your fine palate.

Because of a great love, one is courageous.

Go before the people with your example, and be laborious in their affairs.

Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

It’s amazing, the culture Coach Belichick has been able to create in our system.