Life has no smooth road for any of us; and in the bracing atmosphere of a high aim the very roughness stimulates the climber to steadier steps, till the legend, over steep ways to the stars, fulfills itself.

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.

Inspiration and genius – one and the same.

To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says: “Leave no stone unturned."

If you would create something, you must be something.

Every artist was first an amateur.

The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be.

Do we not all agree to call rapid thought and noble impulse by the name of inspiration?

No great man ever complains of want of opportunities.

Men do less than they ought, unless they do all they can.

Men’s best successes come after their disappointments.

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.

The power of imagination makes us infinite.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, “Always do what you are afraid to do.”

Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes.

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.

Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.

Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant. There is a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.

If the wind will not serve, take to the oars. – Destitutus ventis, remos adhibe

Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action.

You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind.

The best way out is always through.

Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

Fortune favors the brave.

When the best things are not possible, the best may be made of those that are.

He who hesitates is lost.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.

We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

For hope is but the dream of those that wake.

Constant dripping hollows out a stone.

Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose–a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye.

Reverence the highest, have patience with the lowest. Let this day's performance of the meanest duty be thy religion. Are the stars too distant, pick up the pebble that lies at thy feet, and from it learn the all.

Yeah, I don't deal with current events or pop culture, and I avoid politics like the plague.

I moved up over Lower East Side and I was adopted by eight foster parents; I lived all over New York City with these parents, man, till I was about ten years old.

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

If you're feeling blue, lock yourself in a room, stand in front of a mirror, and dance - and laugh at yourself and be sexy. Dance the silliest and ugliest you've ever danced. Make fun of yourself and try to recover your sense of humor.

'The Daily Beast' and Howard Kurtz have parted company.

I got to work for some great administrators at great institutions, and I had an opportunity to coach great players. Iowa is no different.

Our idea is to serve everybody, including people with little money.

A lot of people my age, they grew up with me onscreen. I think that's helped keep a certain amount of longevity. When you grow up with a person, you feel like you know them.