I can’t keep somebody from being a star, and I can’t make somebody a star, and nobody can.

Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.

People have so many hang-ups about how other people live their lives. People always want to keep you in a little box, or they need to label you and fix you in time and location.

A great mind becomes a great fortune.

If all you’re doing is grinding for the man, it’s going to burden you. Once you say, ‚Hey, I’m grinding for the man, but I’m putting money away, and this is part of my exit strategy,‘ you’re working for you.

Things do not always happen the way I would like them to happen, and I had better get used to that.

Sometimes if you got a problem deep rooted in your life, it takes a little bit of time to overcome it in that area.

What is true belongs to me!

Genius without education is like silver in the mine.

When I get up and work out, I’m working out just as much for my girls as I am for me, because I want them to see a mother who loves them dearly, who invests in them, but who also invests in herself. It’s just as much about letting them know as young women that it is okay to put yourself a little higher on your priority list.

I love being busy.

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

Live out of your imagination, not your history.

If you wish to succeed in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

I don’t let even a day go by wherein I don’t give at 100 per cent.

If you are surrounded by your competition and you are outworking these people, outmaneuvering these people, it’s hard not to let your confidence take over. It just builds and builds and builds.

In all seriousness, people think that it’s the ideas that are important. Well, everyone has ideas, all the time. I tend to write mine down and remember them, but at some point you have to apply the bum to the seat and knock out about sixty five thousand words – that’s how long a novel is.

I wanted to get a job being creative, and I did.

I will do this job as long as I feel that I can do it full steam.

I didn’t have nothin‘ going for me… school, home… until I found something I loved, which was music, and that changed everything.

Difficulties should act as a tonic. They should spur us to greater exertion.

Believing in progress does not mean believing that any progress has yet been made.

I don’t want to be too critical of what other people do, but when people go back to do the same thing that they did, I’m completely confused. I’m like, ‚Didn’t you make that movie already?‘ I’ve been very fortunate, and I’m well taken care of, so the least I can do is try to go forward.

In a magazine, one can get – from cover to cover – 15 to 20 different ideas about life and how to live it.

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.

I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated library in the South, all the way up until I walked up the steps of the New York City library, I always felt, in any town, if I can get to a library, I’ll be OK. It really helped me as a child, and that never left me.

He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!

I hope my story inspires everyone out there to keep hustling and chasing their dreams.

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.

Read a record number of books in a given month. If you’re focused on intellectual growth, train yourself to study harder and longer than ever before.

It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.

The reward of a thing well done is having done it.

I try to not focus on what people expect from me.

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.

When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.

I think it’s very important to have a feedback loop, where you’re constantly thinking about what you’ve done and how you could be doing it better.

I mean we all need a second chance sometimes.

You can be obsessed with the bad things people say and the good things; either way, you’re obsessed with yourself, and I’m not – you can become unhinged so easily.

Wine gives a man nothing… it only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost.

I remember they used to tell me, they said, ‚Khaled, you can’t get a Rolls-Royce; you need to get one of them small ones.‘ So I went and bought a Phantom.

A number of analysts have observed that although bin Laden was finally killed, he won some major successes in his war against the U.S.

I am results-oriented.

I can tell you from experience that God’s help and presence in our lives is vital. He is the Author of all true success and everything that is good-without Him, we can do nothing of true value.

The joy of doing well as a batsman for your country is much more than that little joy of going for a party and enjoying music. It is a completely different high, and I get high by performances. That’s what I enjoy now.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.

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.

Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.

My entire childhood was steeped in poverty. For me, poverty, in a way, was the first inspiration of my life, a commitment to do something for the poor.

Travel teaches toleration.

My experience has been that work is almost the best way to pull oneself out of the depths.

Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.

The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.

When I was growing up, I wasn’t an extrovert. If anything, I was an introverted kid and a very average pupil at school. I was very quiet.

The human body has two ends on it: one to create with and one to sit on. Sometimes people get their ends reversed. When this happens they need a kick in the seat of the pants.

I just wanted to write something about running, but I realized that to write about my running is to write about my writing. It’s a parallel thing in me.

I learned a long time ago how to be coachable.

Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.

For a true writer, each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.

You can’t have it all all at once. Over my lifespan, I think I have had it all, but in given periods in time, things were rough. And if you have a caring life partner, you help the other person when that person needs it.