Any coward can fight a battle when he’s sure of winning; but give me the man who has pluck to fight when he’s sure of losing. That’s my way, sir; and there are many victories worse than a defeat.

Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.

Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.

If you want to conquer fear, don't sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.

Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favor; for even dearth is one of the things that Nature wills.

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

Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind, spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies.

Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them, they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will sink out of sight.

Two of the hardest tests in life: The patience to wait for the right moment and the courage to accept whatever you encounter.

You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.

Not in the clamor of the crowded street, not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, but in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.

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

Far better it is to dare might things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they in the gray twilight that knows nor victory nor defeat.

You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.

Defeat is a state of mind. You are defeated only when you accept defeat, and assume the hopeless mindset of a defeated person.

He who does not desire power is fit to hold it.

I want you to be everything that's you, deep at the center of your being.

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

A fast way to demolish relationships, shatter credibility and disrespect yourself is by not following through when you say you are going to do something.

Let us remind ourselves that it is ordinary people – men and women, boys and girls – that make the world a special place.

The best revenge is not to be like your enemy.

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.