Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.

I won at every level – all the way since I started playing the game of basketball at nine. I’ve won at every level, won championships at every level. And, you know, it won’t be fulfilled until I win at the highest level.

Always do whatever’s next.

Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.

People always say that you can’t please everybody. I think that’s a cop-out. Why not attempt it? ‚Cause think of all the people you will please if you try.

Men are only as good as their technical development allows them to be.

And I love that even in the toughest moments, when we’re all sweating it – when we’re worried that the bill won’t pass, and it seems like all is lost – Barack never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise. Just like his grandmother, he just keeps getting up and moving forward… with patience and wisdom, and courage and grace.

I love the name of honor, more than I fear death.

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.

The court generally moves in small steps rather than in one giant step.

Favor comes because for a brief moment in the great space of human change and progress some general human purpose finds in him a satisfactory embodiment.

If you’re going through hell, keep going.

The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of tiny pushes of each honest worker.

I believe in the battle-whether it’s the battle of a campaign or the battle of this office, which is a continuing battle.

New roads; new ruts.

Defeat doesn’t finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he’s defeated. He’s finished when he quits.

I couldn’t ever go back home without being something. I probably would never have gone back home. That was definitely a big motivation. To get back home, and not empty-handed.

I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.

Eighty percent of success is showing up.

Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.

Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts.

A jug fills drop by drop.

It took me 40 years to write my first book. When I was a child, I was encouraged to go to school. I was not encouraged to follow the career of a writer because my parents thought that I was going to starve to death.

I do not look upon these United States as a finished product. We are still in the making.

He who walks in the eightfold noble path with unswerving determination is sure to reach Nirvana.

If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.

Lots of young players have triumphed at United, so why can’t it happen to me? I’m not worried I’m young – it’s an incentive to do the best I can.

Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big.

In the literal sense, there has been no relevant evolution since the trek from Africa. But there has been substantial progress towards higher standards of rights, justice and freedom – along with all too many illustrations of how remote is the goal of a decent society.

Sailed this day nineteen leagues, and determined to count less than the true number, that the crew might not be dismayed if the voyage should prove long.

You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.

Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.

Our brand of democracy is hard. But I can promise that a year from now, when I no longer hold this office, I’ll be right there with you as a citizen – inspired by those voices of fairness and vision, of grit and good humor and kindness that have helped America travel so far.

At one point he decided enough was enough.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

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

I don’t think about that. I wasn’t a kid growing up saying one day I’ll get an Oscar and make a speech. That wasn’t on my mind. So what I do is the best work I can do.

The true art of memory is the art of attention.

The thing I always say to people is this: ‚If you avoid failure, you also avoid success.‘

Founding a company is hard. Most of it isn’t smooth. You’ll have to make very hard decisions. You have to fire a few people. Therefore, if you don’t believe in your mission, giving up is easy. The majority of founders give up. But the best founders don’t give up.

People always fear change. People feared electricity when it was invented, didn’t they? People feared coal, they feared gas-powered engines… There will always be ignorance, and ignorance leads to fear. But with time, people will come to accept their silicon masters.

The only happiness a brave person ever troubles themselves in asking about, is happiness enough to get their work done.

I’m an expert typist. I learned in high school. I would close my eyes and just type without worrying about mistakes. I tried to penetrate my heart, and as I let my thoughts drift, things bubbled up to the surface.

But in truth, should I meet with gold or spices in great quantity, I shall remain till I collect as much as possible, and for this purpose I am proceeding solely in quest of them.

Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

Innovation is a good thing. The human condition – put aside bioterrorism and a few footnotes – is improving because of innovation.

You don’t have the same mentality as you did five years ago – even one year. People are always changing, and I believe that everyone deserves the space to change and for people to recognize their change.

I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.

If you are born an artist, you have no choice but to fight to stay an artist.

I can’t do nothing just a little.

If virtue promises happiness, prosperity and peace, then progress in virtue is progress in each of these for to whatever point the perfection of anything brings us, progress is always an approach toward it.

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

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

A lot of people from my generation of music are so focused on playing things correctly or to perfection that they’re stuck in that safe place.

To do your best is no longer good enough. We now have to do the seemingly impossible.

If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.

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

I don’t look at my old work. I mean, they made nice books; the books were made without me, the one from last year and the one from this year. I – personally, I’m not interested in my own past. I’m only interested in today – perhaps tomorrow.

Refuse to be a lazy Christian, and resist a passive, apathetic attitude.