The fate of the country does not depend on how you vote at the polls — the worst man is as strong as the best at that game; it does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. But habit itself is not merely repetition — it is the slow carving of character, the way water shapes stone not by force but by persistence.

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.

The best way to get what you want is to deserve what you want. It's as simple as that.

The great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

The best way to get what you want is to deserve what you want. It's as simple as that. If you deserve it, you'll get it. If you don't deserve it, you probably won't.