There are a thousand excuses for failure but never a good reason.

It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.

Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.

If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

When an archer misses the mark, he turns and looks for the fault within himself. Failure to hit the bull's--eye is never the fault of the target. To improve your aim, improve yourself.

We all walk in the dark and each of us must learn to turn on his or her own light.

To a greater force, and to a better nature, you, free, are subject, and that creates the mind in you, which the heavens have not in their charge. Therefore if the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought.

Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.

I dream, I test my dreams against my beliefs, I dare to take risks, and I execute my vision to make those dreams come true.

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.

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.

I’m not perfect. And who knows how many times I’ve fallen short. We all fall short. That’s the amazing thing about the grace of God.

The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.

Now what should happen when you make a mistake is this: You take your knocks, you learn your lessons and then you move on. That’s the healthiest way to deal with a problem.

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.

The only way to live, is knowing you’re going to die. If you're afraid to die, you'll never be able to live.

Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease to exist at death.