Some risks you can't afford to take while others you can't afford not to.

Joy is but the sign that creative emotion is fulfilling its purpose.

It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music.

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

We are not powerless specks of dust drifting around in the wind, blown by random destiny. We are, each of us, like beautiful snowflakes -- unique and born for a special reason and purpose.

You can have data without information, but you cannot have information without data.

If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

It's hard to hate anyone whose story you know.

The guy who invented the wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius.

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.

Make your life a mission - not an intermission.

Just as there is no loss of basic energy in the universe, so no thought or action is without its effects, present or ultimate, seen or unseen, felt or unfelt.

It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.

I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?

No matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more that pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto.

It is the business of the future to be dangerous.

There is no such things as an end unaffected by the means used to obtain it.

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.

Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.

The best way to suppose what may come, is to remember what is past.

The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.

The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.

It is not a question of how well each process works, the question is how well they all work together.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

Failure is nature's plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.

Discover where your intellectual arrogance is causing disabling ignorance and overcome it. First-rate engineers, for instance, tend to take pride in not knowing anything about people. But taking pride in such ignorance is self-defeating. Go to work on acquiring the skills you need to fully realize your strengths.

The best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it.

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Throughout the ages, stories with certain basic themes have recurred over and over, in widely disparate cultures; emerging like the goddess Venus from the sea of our unconscious.

Suffering transforms, matures, and instructs. Suffering increases our capacities of love and understanding. All suffering makes us have something in common with any of those who suffer. It is a power of communion.

I am not the man I ought to be, I am not the man I wish to be, and I am not the man I hope to be, but by the grace of God, I am not the man I used to be.

He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.

Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost.

Life is made up of a series of judgements on insufficient data, and if we waited to run down all our doubts, it would flow past us.

The best way out is always through.

The tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.

You are not responsible for what people think about you.But you are responsible for what you give them to think about you.

The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master This expresses my idea of democracy.

Storytelling is a shared experience, and shared experiences are the basis of all relationships.

People ... sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time.

Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.

When cost is number one in importance, you’ve already lost.

A story is the shortest distance between people.

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.

We have all examined our past critically and are very much aware of even the unpleasant things. Now, we need to look at what we plan to do with the lessons we have learned from the past.

Defeat is not defeat unless accepted as a reality -- in your own mind.

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.

If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn't ask me, I'd still have to say it.

The royal road to a man's heart is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.

Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything wise in the world.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Speed is useful only if you are running in the right direction.

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.

To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

We could never learn to be brave and patient if there were only joy in the world.

Write your Sad times in Sand, Write your Good times in Stone.

The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.

To hope means to be ready at every moment for that which is not yet born, and yet not become desperate if there is no birth in our lifetime. Those whose hope is weak settle for comfort or for violence, those whose hope is strong see and cherish signs of new life and are ready every moment to help the birth of that which is ready to be born.

If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six sharpening my ax.

Stories are bridges from one mind to another.

The marvellous richness of human experience would lose something of rewarding joy if there were no limitations to overcome. The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.

Plans are everything before a battle, and nothing once it begins.

Joy must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again...I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.

If you do not have the time to read you do not have the time to lead.

Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.

Tales told from the heart reach the heart.

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.

Leadership is getting someone to do what they don't want to do, to achieve what they want to achieve.

You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.

Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.

I think it all comes back to being very selfish as an artist. I mean, I really do just write and record what interests me and I do approach the stage shows in much the same way.

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.

If you ask young men what they want to accomplish by the time they are 40, the answers you get fall into two distinct categories. There are those, the great majority, who will respond in terms of what they want to have. This is especially true of graduate students of business administration. There are some men, however, who will answer in terms of the kind of men they hope to be. These are the only ones who have a clear idea of where they are going.

He will have to learn, I know, that all people are not just - that all men and women are not true. Teach him that for every scoundrel there is a hero that for every enemy there is a friend. Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest people to lick.

Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.

Find something that you're really interested in doing in your life. Pursue it, set goals, and commit yourself to excellence. Do the best you can.

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.

You don't have to be a person of influence to be influential. In fact the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they've taught me.

I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust.

I had to examine myself very thoroughly to find the right path personally.

He who has a why can endure any how.

If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.

Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and loss of self-control.

Virtuous men … like some herbs and spices that give not out their sweet smell till they be broken or crushed.

It has always been my belief that a man should do his best, regardless of how much he receives for his services, or the number of people he may be serving or the class of people served.

The people who influence you are the people who believe in you.

Let us remember that the times which future generations delight to recall are not those of ease and prosperity, but those of adversity bravely borne.

In those moments when we tell stories together, we are most truly human and most genuinely ourselves.

I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy. Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.

The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.

Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit.

A person can perform only from strength. One cannot build performance on weakness, let alone on something one cannot do at all.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know who his grandson will be.

Men are more important than tools. If you don't believe so, put a good tool into the hands of a poor workman.

Storytelling can open our perspectives to more brilliant possibilities.

To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Fail to honor people,they fail to honor you; but of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aims fulfilled, they will all say, 'We did this ourselves.'

I love awards, especially if I get them.

Change should be a friend. It should happen by plan, not by accident.

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.

Without mission, there's no purpose. Without vision, there's no destination. Without values, there are no guiding principles.

When God gives the green light He also gives the green backs.

The weakest of all weak thins is a virtue which has not been tested in the fire.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

Perfection is achieved - not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.

Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.

Don't give advice unless you're asked.

Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.

Metaphor is the lifeblood of all art.

If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

From the dawn of civilization until 2003, humankind generated five exabytes of data. Now we produce five exabytes every two days ... and the pace is accelerating.

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.

Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long shot.

The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They're there to stop the other people.

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision.

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that's easy. What's hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.

I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.

The man who insists upon seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides. Accept life, and you must accept regret.

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.

For every path you choose, there is another you must abandon, usually forever.

Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.

When I was 40, my doctor advised me that a man in his 40s shouldn't play tennis. I heeded his advice carefully and could hardly wait until I reached 50 to start again.

The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.

Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

The soul never thinks without an image.

No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

Up there with my awards, I have a great big statue of Groucho Marx, just to put everything in perspective.

Those who plan do better than those who do not plan even though they rarely stick to their plan.

Digital Chocolate has 60% of its developers in Finland where the sun never sets in the summer and there is nothing to do outside in the winter, so we are very productive!

Most executives, many scientists, and almost all business school graduates believe that if you analyse data, this will give you new ideas. Unfortunately, this belief is totally wrong. The mind can only see what it is prepared to see.

The story that lets us laugh and cry begins our healing.

No work of love will flourish out of guilt fear or hollowness of heart just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.

If you always do what interests you, at least one person is pleased.

Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.

People don't think their dreams amount to much, but when I ask them to examine them for common themes, they surprise themselves at how accurate they are! They see that their dreams have value.

I think my family and closest friends are learning about my need to withdraw, and I am learning how to restore and store my energy to both serve the community to the best of my ability and to serve my writer's heart.

Stories are the truths that guide us through life.

Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.

True happiness... is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

There is more than a verbal tie between the words common, community, and communication.... Try the experiment of communicating, with fullness and accuracy, some experience to another, especially if it be somewhat complicated, and you will find your own attitude toward your experience changing.

The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.

There's no sense talking about priorities. Priorities reveal themselves. We're all transparent against the face of the clock.

The reward of suffering is experience.

Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic; they are ideally set up to understand stories.

I make no pretense of 'objectivity'; there ain't no such animal, though we play at the hunt.

I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun.

The goal is to transform data into information, and information into insight.

The main dangers in this life are the people who want to change everything...or nothing.

Storytelling allows you to hear the soul and spirit of words.

Through humor, we see in what seems rational, the irrational; in what seems important, the unimportant. It also heightens our sense of survival and preserves our sanity.

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to men. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

Money won't make you happy... but everybody wants to find out for themselves.

The best and most beautiful thing in life cannot be seen, not touched, but are felt in the heart.

Would you persuade, speak of interest, not of reason.

Plan backwards as well as forward. Set objectives and trace back to see how to achieve them. You may find that no path can get you there. Plan forward to see where your steps will take you, which may not be clear or intuitive.

The greatest difficulty is that men do not think enough of themselves, do not consider what it is that they are sacrificing when they follow in a herd, or when the cater for their establishment.

Be of good cheer. Do not think of today's failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourself a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles.

I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.

Things may come to those who wait. But only the things left by those who hustle.

To have his path made clear for him is the aspiration of every human being in our beclouded and tempestuous existence.

People become the stories they hear and the stories they tell.

When science and the Bible differ, science has obviously misinterpreted its data.

Action expresses priorities.

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.

Realistic people' who pursue 'practical aims' are rarely as realistic or practical in the long run of life as the dreamers who pursue their dreams.

What is there that money will not do?

Never follow somebody else's path; it doesn't work the same way twice for anyone... the path follows you and rolls up behind you as you walk, forcing the next person to find their own way.

Storytelling is medicine for the spirit and healing for the soul.

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one's own path, not chasing after the dreams of others.

We all have a vast number of areas in which we have no talent or skill and little chance of becoming even mediocre. In those areas a knowledge workers should not take on work, jobs and assignments. It takes far more energy to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence.

The truth is more important than the facts.

An organization is only as effective as its processes.

Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee...

I fear explanations explanatory of things explained.

Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire.

Every path has its puddle.

Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right

You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.

Productive achievement is a consequence and an expression of health and self-esteem, not its cause.

There is a road, no simple highway, between the dawn and the dark of night, and if you go, no one may follow, that path is for your steps alone.

If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride - and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards.

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.

You may feel like dwelling on your limits or your fears. Don't do it. A perfect prescription for a squandered, unfulfilled life is to accommodate self-defeating feelings while undercutting your finest, most productive ones.

A good story is like a good friend. The more you know it and tell it, the more you can trust it!

Advise for anybody - enjoy what you are doing, enjoy the process of learning and don't be impatient.

Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.

People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.

An enemy is one whose story we have not heard.

Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.

You can make mistakes, but you are not a failure until you blame others for those mistakes.

We assume that being successful creates fun, but that's backwards. By having fun, we free up our best resources. So the truth is, it's fun that creates success.

Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.

Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.

We must beware of trying to build a society in which nobody counts for anything except a politician or an official, a society where enterprise gains no reward and thrift no privileges.

I wouldn't give a fig for simplicity this side of complexity but I'd give my right arm for simplicity on the other side of complexity.

Women will never be as successful as men because they have no wives to advise them.

When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.

That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.

Nothing I've ever done has given me more joys and rewards than being a father to my children.

The use of money is all the advantage there is in having it.

The problem with communication ... is the illusion that it has been accomplished.

To find your mission in life is to discover the intersection between your heart's deep gladness and the world's deep hunger.

He does not believe that does not live according to his belief.

Whatever you are, be a good one.

The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life.

The better part of one's life consists of his friendships.

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life that he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.

Stories are, quite simply, our native language.

If men make war in slavish obedience to rules, they will fail.

If you put good people in bad systems you get bad results. You have to water the flowers you want to grow.