A genius? Perhaps, but before I was a genius, I was a drudge.
— Ignace Jan Paderewski
There is no course of life so weak and sottish as that which is managed by orders, method, and discipline.
— Michel Eyquem de Montaigne
Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.
— Abraham J. Heschel
Discipline is the soul of an army.
— George Washington
If I don’t practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.
— Jascha Heifetz
Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.
— Alfred Lord Tennyson
In his later years, Winston Churchill was asked to give the commencement address at Oxford University. Following his introduction, he rose, went to the podium, and said, “Never, never, never give up.” Then he took his seat.
Order marches with weighty and measured strides; disorder is always in a hurry.
— Napoleon Bonaparte
No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself.
— William Penn
Show me an orchestra that likes its conductor and I’ll show you a lousy conductor.
— Goddard Lieberson
Nothing I do can’t be done by a ten-year-old...with fifteen years of practice.
— Harry Blackstone, Jr., on being a magician
Most people would succeed in small things if they were not troubled with great ambitions.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
He that leaveth nothing to chance will do few things ill, but he will do very few things.
— George Savile
There is no such thing as a great talent without great willpower.
— Honoré de Balzac
I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
— Stephen Butler Leacock
It is a very bad thing to become accustomed to good luck.
— Publilius Syrus
Minds, like bodies, will often fall into a pimpled, ill-conditioned state from mere excess of comfort.
— Charles Dickens
The man who does something under orders is not unhappy; he is unhappy when he does something against his will.
— Seneca the Younger
Man’s many desires are like the small metal coins he carries about in his pocket. The more he has the more they weight him down.
— Satya Sai Baba
I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.
— Harry S. Truman
“Sayings”
This hurts me more than it hurts you.
Show them death and they will accept the fever.
— Arab saying
“Joke”
“Excuse me, but can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?” the tourist asked a New York City cop.
