“The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.”

Most of our obstacles would melt away if, instead of cowering before them, we should make up our minds to walk boldly through them.

The secret of happiness is in a cheerful, contented mind. He is poor who is dissatisfied; he is rich who is contented with what he has, and can enjoy what others own.

Joyfulness keeps the heart and face young. A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us.

No one has a corner on success. It is his who pays the price.

There is no law by which one can, as long as he thinks he can’t.

Worry clogs the brain and paralyzes the thought. A troubled brain can not think clearly, vigorously, locally.

No man can be ideally successful until he has found his place. Like a locomotive he is strong on the track, but weak anywhere else.

Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them… they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.

The greatest thing a man can do in this world is to make the most possible out of the stuff that has been given him. This is success, and there is no other.

Unless you have prepared yourself to profit by your chance, the opportunity will only make you ridiculous. A great occasion is valuable to you just in proportion as you have educated yourself to make use of it.

We win half the battle when we make up our minds to take the world as we find it including the thorns.

The best thing about giving of ourselves is that what we get is always better than what we give. The reaction is greater than the action.

If you want to enlarge your life, you must first enlarge your thought of it and of yourself.

Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.

Opportunities? They are all around us There is power lying latent everywhere waiting for the observant eye to discover it.

There are powers inside of you which, if you could discover and use, would make of you everything you ever dreamed or imagined you could become.

We’re not willing to give black leaders second chances because, in most cases, we’re not willing to give them first chances.

Whereas if I wrote a movie script, chances are better than even that I’d just be another guy in L.A. with a movie script in his drawer.

I see the holidays as a chance for kids to learn self-sufficiency.

Louis Pasteur, the great scientist, said “chance favours the prepared mind”, which is a posh way of saying ‘do your homework’, but it’s an excellent piece of advice.

It certainly is gravy every day above ground right now, after kicking that heroin habit.

I really do see it as the start of the second half of my career.

When you win an election, what you really win is a chance to go to work for working families who need a voice in Minnesota.

I thought my chances were fairly good, but I tried to stay low key about it, not too high and not too low. That was the way I played, too.