Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.

I used to feel unsafe right in the moment of an accomplishment – I felt the ground fall from under my feet because this could be the end. And even now, while everyone is celebrating, I’m on to the next thing. I don’t want to get lost in this big cushion of success.

It’s lack that gives us inspiration. It’s not fullness.

The child who desires education will be bettered by it; the child who dislikes it disgraced.

You’ve got to have faith in what you’re doing and not take no for an answer.

A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.

I’m about being the best.

I tried acting, liked it, and stuck with it. I saw it as the way I would keep that promise to myself of getting back at those who had made my school life a misery.

If you keep proving stuff that others have done, getting confidence, increasing the complexities of your solutions – for the fun of it – then one day you’ll turn around and discover that nobody actually did that one!

Getting out of bed is like the foundation of the discipline, and I think it carries over into everything else.

We will all fail in life, but nobody has to be a failure. Failing at a thing doesn’t make you a failure. You are only a failure when you quit trying.

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

Don’t be a writer; it’s a terrible way to live your life. There’s nothing to be gained from it but poverty and obscurity and solitude. So if you have a taste for all those things, which means that you really are burning to do it, then go ahead and do it. But don’t expect anything from anybody.

My message to all the activists is to just keep going, and I know it really may seem impossible and hopeless sometimes – it always does – so you just have to keep going because if you try hard enough and long enough you will make a difference.

What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence.

Right discipline consists, not in external compulsion, but in the habits of mind which lead spontaneously to desirable rather than undesirable activities.

It started to weigh on me that I was responsible for the moves that had made me successful, but I wasn’t reaping the lion’s share of the profits, and that was problematic for me.

If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.

Life is to be lived. If you have to support yourself, you had bloody well better find some way that is going to be interesting. And you don’t do that by sitting around.

I don’t know what can be so dangerous about giving people hope. Causing people to have better relationships. I’m not leading them to some false God or something like that.

It’s like a muscle – if you stop going to the gym or stop running, you get weak. The military teaches you these great values, but we don’t keep up the discipline on our own, and we lose it. So wherever you go, keep that discipline up.

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

I’m just a kid that defied the odds. I’m just a kid that ignored the doubt. I’m just a kid from a little place in Dublin, Ireland, that went all the way, and I’m going to continue to go all the way.

Man is not made for defeat.

Keep a good attitude and do the right thing even when it’s hard. When you do that you are passing the test. And God promises you your marked moments are on their way.

Big pay and little responsibility are circumstances seldom found together.

If you want to achieve something, you build the basis for it.

‚They‘ is… stay away from them, please. There is so many different definitions of ‚they.‘ You might have a personal ‚they.‘ They against you; they want you broken and miserable. They don’t like winners; they don’t like people who’s blessed. So everybody’s got a different ‚they.‘

With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.

When a person starts to talk about their dreams, it’s as if something bubbles up from within. Their eyes brighten, their face glows, and you can feel the excitement in their words.

I’m sure the feeling of fear, as long as you can take advantage of it and not be rendered useless by it, can make you extend yourself beyond what you would regard as your capacity. If you’re afraid, the blood seems to flow freely through the veins, and you really do feel a sense of stimulation.

I’m honored that everybody’s inspired off my inspiration.

No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.

ESPN is a great organization to work for.

Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.

To not follow your passion in life is a recipe for failure and unhappiness.

I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.

My biggest criticism is how can people be so easily satisfied? Even people with talent.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

I grew up where, when a door closed, a window didn’t open. The only thing I had was cracks. I’d do everything to get through those cracks – scratch, claw, bite, push, bleed. Now the opportunity is here. The door is wide open, and it’s as big as a garage.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.

Act, and God will act.

One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment… If it doesn’t turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.

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

When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.

Whenever you give up something, you must replace it with something.

The right-wingers don’t want to admit that for some people, there are no jobs; they think that conscientiousness in and of itself will do the trick.

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‚If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?‘ And whenever the answer has been ‚No‘ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.

The Make in India campaign has taken off and is backed with skill development. It is going to open new vistas for employment for the youth.

I don’t go to bed at 1 A.M. and wake up at 5 A.M. and say, ‚Let’s see if I can get this done today.‘

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

A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.

When I did have some success, it further emboldens you to be like, ‚No, I’m just going to write what I feel I should write.‘

I am a grafter.

There is only one sort of discipline, perfect discipline.

I’ve never thought about any kind of prejudice about women in country music because I never felt like it affected me. I was fortunate enough to come about in a time when I didn’t feel that kind of energy at all, and it was always my theory that if you want to play in the same ballgame as the boys, you’ve got to work as hard as them.

We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.

Small aim is a crime.

Fight with a happy heart.

In my career as a director, there’s always been some point where you get halfway through it, or three-quarters, and you go: ‚What is this thing all about, and why am I telling the story? Does anybody really care about seeing this?‘ At that time you have to say: ‚OK, forget that and just go ahead.‘