“Many a serious thinker has been produced in prisons, where we have nothing to do but think.”

You must always be prepared to place a bet on yourself, on your future, by heading in a direction that others seem to fear.

Actually, your past successes are your biggest obstacle: every battle, every war, is different, and you cannot assume that what worked before will work today.

It is in fact the height of selfishness to merely consume what others create and to retreat into a shell of limited goals and immediate pleasures.

No moment is wasted if you pay attention and learn the lessons contained in every experience.

The worst thing is to sit and whine and complain and obsess about money as if that were the only sign of your worth as a human.

If you are worried about what others might think and about how your position in the group might be jeopardized, then you will never really create anything.

The truth is that creative activity is one that involves the entire self – our emotions, our levels of energy, our characters, and our minds.

Remember: The best deceivers do everything they can to cloak their roguish qualities. They cultivate an air of honesty in one area to disguise their dishonesty in others. Honesty is merely another decoy in their arsenal of weapons.

Never waste valuable time, or mental peace of mind, on the affairs of others – that is too high a price to pay.

If you’re just letting the time pass at your job, it’s just dead time and you’ll never get it back. If at that job you’re learning and you’re observing and you’re seeing about people and connections, it’s suddenly alive time.

Do not leave your reputation to chance or gossip; it is your life’s artwork, and you must craft it, hone it, and display it with the care of an artist.

The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.

Mastery is not a question of genetics of luck, but of following your natural inclinations and the deep desires that stirs you from within.

Never whine, never complain, never try to justify yourself.

The human tongue is a beast that few can master.

When you show yourself to the world and display your talents, you naturally stir all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity, you cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others

Don’t prepare. Begin. Our enemy is not lack of preparation. The enemy is resistance, our chattering brain producing excuses. Start before you are ready.

It is necessary to believe that the mixture of evil has produced the greatest possible good: otherwise the evil would not have been permitted.

The fundamental point in fabricating a chain reacting machine is of course to see to it that each fission produces a certain number of neutrons and some of these neutrons will again produce fission.

The fatigue produced on the muscles of the human frame does not altogether depend on the actual force employed in each effort, but partly on the frequency with which it is exerted.

Playing the game for money produces the proper professional attitude. It inculcates the lunch-pail state of mind that shows up for work despite rain or snow or dark of night and slugs it out day after day.

One succeeds in obtaining an equivalent production at a lower price by improving the arts, trades and agriculture and by developing the physical and moral qualities of workers, farmers and craftsmen.

Creating demand is hard. Filling demand is easier. Don’t create a product, then seek someone to sell it to. Find a market – define your customers – then find or develop a product for them.

Cell phones, mobile e-mail, and all the other cool and slick gadgets can cause massive losses in our creative output and overall productivity.