I’m not gonna be bad at anything, and I want to actually be the best at anything I’m doing. So if I’m playing basketball, if I’m taking the SATs, like, there’s a competitive spirit behind it. With production, it’s the same thing.

You are never too young to learn, never too old to change.

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.

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

The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.

What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can’t find them, make them.

‚They‘ are the people that don’t believe in you, that say that you won’t succeed. We stay away from ‚They.‘

I am never satisfied with myself and that is what keeps me going – I have no post-satisfaction.

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.

We all have a tendency to avoid our weaknesses. When we do that, we never progress or get any better.

Anger is wonderful. It keeps you going. I’m angry about bankers. About the government.

And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department.

You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.

I have spent my life going from mania to mania. Somehow it has all paid off.

Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.

Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.

Take the course opposite to custom and you will almost always do well.

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.

In business, the idea of measuring what you are doing, picking the measurements that count like customer satisfaction and performance… you thrive on that.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.

The secret is not to give up hope. It’s very hard not to because if you’re really doing something worthwhile I think you will be pushed to the brink of hopelessness before you come through the other side.

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.

I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.

What I admire most about Hillary is that she never buckles under pressure. She never takes the easy way out. And Hillary Clinton has never quit on anything in her life. And when I think about the kind of president that I want for my girls and all our children, that’s what I want.

It’s rule number one, really – beating your teammate.

A rooster crows only when it sees the light. Put him in the dark and he’ll never crow. I have seen the light and I’m crowing.

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.

I was the kid that was the 199th pick that never had the body for it. People didn’t think I’d play one year in the NFL, and now I’m going on my 17th year.

I keep working because I learn something new all the time.

Everyone needs a coach. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast or a bridge player.

Writing makes you feel that there is a reason to go on living. If I couldn’t write, I would stop breathing.

Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.

You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.

Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty; it is its own reward. Everything else is in God’s hands.

But, you know, you can’t be a star at home.

Courage is being scared to death… and saddling up anyway.

It is reasonable to have perfection in our eye that we may always advance toward it, though we know it can never be reached.

I think the tiniest little thing can change the course of your day, which can change the course of your year, which can change who you are.

If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.

Becoming famous was never what I wanted to do. There’s a lot of things that come with fame – it’s what people in the limelight have to do.

There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.

If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.

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

Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.

What is a fear of living? It’s being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take full responsibility for yourself – for the time you take up and the space you occupy. If you don’t know what you’re here to do, then just do some good.

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

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power.

I would hear stories about Steve Jobs and feel like he was at 100 percent exactly what he wanted to do, but I’m sure even a Steve Jobs has compromised. Even a Rick Owens has compromised. You know, even a Kanye West has compromised. Sometimes you don’t even know when you’re being compromised till after the fact, and that’s what you regret.

Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions – Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.

No foreign policy – no matter how ingenious – has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none.

The future rewards those who press on. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I’m going to press on.

The great thing about America is that you can come from the worst circumstances and become something remarkable.

You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.

The harder I work, the luckier I become.

Energy, like the biblical grain of the mustard-seed, will remove mountains.

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.