“Even being right 3 or 4 times out of 10 should yield a person a fortune if he has the sense to cut his losses quickly on the ventures where he is wrong.”

In a period scarcely twice my own lifetime it has risen from nothingness to become the world’s greatest power. It has become the ark of the covenant of freedom.

We are living in a highly organized state of socialism. The state is all; the individual is of importance only as he contributes to the welfare of the state. His property is only his as the state does not need it. He must hold his life and his possessions at the call of the state.

None of us can be free of conflict and woe. Even the greatest men have had to accept disappointments as their daily bread. … The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them.

“The king may die, or I may die, or the horse may die. Furthermore, in a year, who knows? Maybe the horse will learn to fly.” My philosophy is like that man’s. I take the long-range view.

One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody everything everynight before you go to bed.

You can overcome anything if you don’t bellyache.

Never pay the slightest attention to what a company president ever says about his stock.

I have known men who could see through the motivations of others with the skill of a clairvoyant; only to prove blind to their own mistakes. I have been one of those men.

The essence of any plan for financing old age is saving-to put aside some part of today’s earnings for the future.

If the history of the past fifty years teaches us anything, it is that peace does not follow disarmament – disarmament follows peace.

Beware of him who promises something for nothing. Do not blame anybody for your mistakes and failures. Do not look for approval except the consciousness of doing your best.

Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without thought.

Even when we know what is right, too often we fail to act. More often we grab greedily for the day, letting tomorrow bring what it will, putting off the unpleasant and unpopular.

Financial storm definitely passed.

Society can progress if men’s labors show a profit – if they yield more than is put in. To produce at a loss must leave less for all to share.

Let us not deceive ourselves; we must elect world peace or world destruction.

Why get married? For human beings, marriage is such an unnatural state. If you want monogamy, it has been said, you should marry a swan.

The third level of wanting is “I commit to being rich.” The definition of the word commit is to “devote oneself unreservedly.” This means holding absolutely nothing back; giving 100 percent of everything you’ve got to achieving wealth.

I’ve never had any illusions about being a lead actor in films, because lead actors have to be of a certain kind. Apart from the beauty of looks and figure, which I cannot claim to have, there’s just a particular kind of ordinary-Joe quality that a film star needs to have.

When someone is a musician – trying to make a living off being a public figure – it’s really easy for people to see me as a face on a screen that doesn’t have a personal life.

If there is a supreme being, he’s crazy.

I think people don’t realize how little of being an artist is making art.

People won’t want powers being handed back from bureaucrats in Brussels to be given to bureaucrats in Britain.

The consuming desire of most human beings is deliberately to plant their whole life in the hands of some other person. I would describe this method of searching for happiness as immature. Development of character consists solely in moving toward self-sufficiency.