The greatest reverses of fortune are the most easily borne from a sort of dignity belonging to them.

Every creative person, and I think probably every other person, faces resistance when they are trying to create something good...The harder the resistance, the more important the task must be.

Characters only take action after they are challenged by an outside force.

an entrepreneur's ability to find strength when others want to run, hide, quit, or blame someone else for their failures.

If you plan for the worst—if you can live with the worst—the good will always take care of itself.

With the right attitude, a failure can be converted into a lesson and a stepping-stone for future success.

Do not dwell upon the sins and mistakes of yesterday so exclusively as to have no energy and mind left for living rightly today, and do not think that the sins of yesterday can prevent you from living purely today.

As long as you are black, and you're gonna be black till the day you die, no one's gonna call you by your goddamn name. So no matter what you are called, nigger, you just let it roll off your back like water, and you'll make it. Just pretend you're a goddamn piece of furniture. [Said to his chauffeur, Robert Parker, when Parker said he'd prefer to be referred to by his name rather than "boy," "nigger" or "chief."]

It takes less courage to end your life in a burst of glory than to face the mistakes you've made and start over.

But not making a decision is actually a decision. It's the decision to stay the same.

Sometimes it's easier to overcome a fall and a break than the fear of failure.

A whole lifetime could be spent making excuses, giving in, feeling guilty, resolving to do better, mentally beating myself up for not sticking to my resolve, feeling like a failure, and then resigning myself to the fact that things can't change.