“Every time you have to make a choice about anything, think Does this go toward or away from what I want? Always choose what goes toward what you want.”

DO IT RIGHT, DO IT WRONG, BUT DO IT. Squeeze your eyes shut and jump. Because a wonderful thing happens then. Your focus shifts from yourself, your nervousness, and your imagined inadequacies to the task at hand.

Time is clay; make something.

The environment that creates winners is almost always made up of winners.

Becoming mature means learning to accept what you cannot change, facing unresolved sorrows and learning to love life as it really happens, not as you would have it happen.

Everyone has unique gifts and talents. What you love is what you’re gifted at. To be completely happy, to live a completely fulfilled life, you have to do what you love.

Doing your own thing is a generous act. Being gifted creates obligations, which means you owe the world your best effort at the work you love. You too are a natural resource.

Resentment is weak and lowers your self-esteem.

Find what you love, because greatness is based on great gifts. If you love something, you can count on the fact that you are genetically gifted at it.

You cannot tell your heart what it wants. Your heart will tell you

Unkind criticism is never part of a meaningful critique of you. Its purpose is not to teach or to help, its purpose is to punish.

When you play it too safe, you’re taking the biggest risk of your life. Time is the only wealth we’re given.

The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act.

Sometimes life isn’t about who you were or are, but it’s about who you are becoming.

And our dreams are who we are.

We all need to learn a new language for love – a language that speaks not in socks, pancakes, and paychecks, but in shared fascination with physics or poetry, delight in each other’s uniqueness, and mutual practical and emotional support.

Whatever your dreams are, start taking them very, very seriously.

I’ve been very fortunate in my collaborators throughout my career.

Take motherhood: nobody ever thought of putting it on a moral pedestal until some brash feminists pointed out, about a century ago, that the pay is lousy and the career ladder nonexistent.

I’ve spent various periods of my career being thought of as various things, various degrees of substance and ideas.

Error can point the way to truth, while empty-headedness can only lead to more empty-headedness or to a career in politics.

How could you not wanna be in Doctor Who at least once in your career?

Unfortunately, my career is increasingly leading me into rooms where everybody is funny.

I think I’m the funniest guy in a room full of unfunny people. Unfortunately, my career is increasingly leading me into rooms where everybody is funny. I’m the least funny person in a room full of funny people.

You have to transfer your success on the track to your education, because you don’t want to waste what you did athletically once your athletic career is over.