I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.

I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got.

You have to be burning with an idea, or a problem, or a wrong that you want to right. If you're not passionate enough from the start, you'll never stick it out.

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.

When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.

I am a true laborer: I earn that I eat, get that I wear, owe no man hate, envy no man’s happiness, glad of other men’s good, content with my harm.

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the induction of a new order of things.

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it—but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.

The brave person thinks of themselves last of all.

All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible. Then they seem improbable. And then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, Can circumvent or hinder or control. The firm resolve of a determined soul. Gifts count for nothing; will alone is great; All things give way before it, soon or late.

What though strength fails? Boldness is certain to win praise. In mighty enterprises, it is enough to have had the determination.

Impossible is just an opinion.

Fear is a question: What are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information, your fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if you explore them.

If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.

Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burned women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.

Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.

He who possesses most must be most afraid of loss.

Amid the seeming confusion of our mysterious world, individuals are so nicely adjusted to a system, and systems to one another and to a whole, that, by stepping aside for a moment, a man exposes himself to a fearful risk of losing his place forever.

To make a contented slave it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken the moral and mental vision and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason.

The chief danger in life is that you may take too many precautions.

You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise.

Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.

Against all odds and despite all the obstacles, we are going to make it.

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.

The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude and perseverance.

And, more importantly, reach for the stars. And realize that it is never too late—not now, not ever—for you to pursue you passion, your pursuit of perfection. And most importantly, your perseverance for making it happen.

For great and low there's but one test: 'Tis that each man do his best.

Four steps to achievement: Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue persistently.

We can do anything we want to if we stick to it long enough.

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.

Persistence guarantees that results are inevitable.