My dad was like a stage mother he always pushed me to do what I wanted.

I’m so tough and so bad, I can be humble and lift another guy up.

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

I really thought I was on the way out. My husband Blake saved my life. Often I don’t know what I do, then the next day the memory returns. And then I am engulfed in shame.

You may think it was a very little thing, and in these days it seems to me like a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I could scarcely credit that I, the poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day; that by honest work, I had earned a dollar. I was a more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that time.

If I were a woman, I would love to have lots of kids. But for men, I don’t believe in it.

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.

There’s a lack of people in power that are motivated by the idea of helping people.

The presence of passion within you is the greatest gift you can receive. Treat it as a miracle.

Let every dawn be to you as the beginning of life, and every setting sun be to you as its close.

I’ve never had a divorce, but I’ve seen so many of my friends, my sister, my family go through that stuff, so I try to write for the people that can’t write about it. I take on their sorrow, so I’m able to kind of express it, or their joy.

My children love Maleficent’s voice, so they always make me do it at home.

Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.

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

God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.

My father opened a restaurant. It’s so amazing… it’s so freaking delicious, but I’m telling you I gain five pounds every time I go in there.

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.

What keeps me going is goals.

Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.

With drive and a bit of talent, you can move mountains. I know. I’ve done it.

We are motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is the more he is inspired by glory. The very philosophers themselves, even in those books which they write in contempt of glory, inscribe their names.

Hope is not a resting place but a starting point – a cactus, not a cushion.

I’ve felt like an outsider all my life. It comes from my mother, who always felt like an outsider in my father’s family. She was a powerful woman, and she motivated my father.

Next to excellence is the appreciation of it.

Our whole life is set up in the path of least resistance. We don’t want to suffer. We don’t want to feel discomfort. So the whole time, we’re living our lives in a very comfortable area. There’s no growth in that.

Your decision to be, have and do something out of ordinary entails facing difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.

It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.

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

The ideal death, I think, is what was the ideal Victorian death, you know, with your grandchildren around you, a bit of sobbing. And you say goodbye to your loved ones, making certain that one of them has been left behind to look after the shop.

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

All my momma’s people were very musical. My grandpa, who was the Pentecostal minister, he was a great musician. He played the fiddle, he played the piano.

Being a housewife and a mother is the biggest job in the world, but if it doesn’t interest you, don’t do it – I would have made a terrible mother.

Opportunity makes a thief.

I think that at the start of a game, you’re always playing to win, and then maybe if you’re ahead late in the game, you start playing not to lose. The true competitors, though, are the ones who always play to win.

The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting above average effort.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

They need help, and we have helped, and we are here to help. And we are helping, and we’re going to continue to help.

Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes,‘ he said, his voice rising as applause and cheers mounted. ‚Shake it off. Stop complainin‘. Stop grumblin‘. Stop cryin‘. We are going to press on. We have work to do.

My wife, a schoolteacher, very disciplined. If you think I’m tough, trust me, and wait till you see when the children are on the naughty step. It’s hilarious. So we decided that I’m going to work like a donkey and provide amazing support for the family.

Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.

The temptation to take the easy road is always there. It is as easy as staying in bed in the morning and sleeping in. But discipline is paramount to ultimate success and victory for any leader and any team.

Every act you have ever performed since the day you were born was performed because you wanted something.

If you’re in a workplace you don’t like right now, be encouraged because God will use it for your good. Think about it this way: He wants you to be a light in the darkness – and He’s putting His confidence in you!

You bring children into the world. You love them with heart and soul.

The ‚Billionaire‘ song is what my kids tease me with. They sing it to me. It’s funny.

I have a lot of other stuff to accomplish before I get to kids. Whenever the time is right, I’ll just know. If I had a girl, she’d probably be really rebellious. She would be like a bundle of karma. I would love to bring them up in Barbados.

Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.

I just owe almost everything to my father and it’s passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.

Just do some kind of workout. Doesn’t matter if it’s going for a walk around the block, going for a jog, doing some calisthenics, lifting weights, going to a pool and swimming – you name it. But do something that gets your blood flowing and gets your mind in the game.

You know, my family and friends have never been yes-men: ‚Yes, you’re doing the right thing, you’re always right.‘ No, they tell me when I’m wrong, and that’s why I’ve been able to stay who I am and stay humble.

There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

In a relationship each person should support the other; they should lift each other up.

Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model.

I was raised by a mother who told me I was great every day of my life.

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done!

Live the life you’ve dreamed.

By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.

That is my wish, hope, instruction for all of you: Take your education seriously, okay? Always do that. Because I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my education.