“Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.”

Give me the right people and I don’t much care what organization you give me. Good things will happen. Give me the wrong people and it doesn’t matter what you do with the organization. Bad things will happen.

Failure is a part of life and you have to learn to deal with it. Failure is something that is part of life’s cycle and it’s from failure that you gain life experience.

I have never seen a good organization where the standards weren’t high.

Always focus on the front windshield and not the review mirror.

Respect for leaders by followers can’t be mandated; it must be earned. It has to be given to leaders by their followers.

Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

It takes more courage to send men into battle than to fight the battle yourself.

Pissing people off doesn’t mean you’re doing the right things, but doing the right things will almost inevitably piss people off.

Always be looking for that which you do well and that which you love doing, and when you find those two things together — man, you got it.

My responsibility, our responsibility as lucky Americans, is to try to give back to this country as much as it has given us, as we continue our American journey together.

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.

None of us can change our yesterdays but all of us can change our tomorrows.

Always show more kindness than seems necessary, because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever know.

Always do your best. Somebody is watching you.

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved.

I don’t think anyone can give you advice when you’ve got a broken heart.

The most important thing to do in your life is to not interfere with somebody else’s life.

When you advise any person you should be guided by the fear of God.

He who is not impressed by sound advice, lacks faith.

The cutting of the gem has to be finished before you can see whether it shines.

Trust no one unless you have eaten much salt with him.

My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.

A mind without instruction can no more bear fruit than can a field, however fertile, without cultivation.