Gustave Flaubert Quotes

Stop wanting wealth and fame and start wanting instead to do something well about which you are passionate

To desire to be what one can be is purpose in life. There are no exterior forces. There are only interior forces. Who squanders talent praises death.

You must find another reason to work, other than the desire for success or recognition. It must come from another place.

I don't look at things goin', 'Oh, is this gonna make me rich? Is this gonna make me a star? Am I gonna win awards?' If all that stuff happens, great. Who cares? I still have to wake up in the morning and go to work and be happy to do it.

I've never been driven by fame or money or anything like that. It's never been part of my psyche.

What inspires me in life? The idea that the work and the rewards and the process is the thing.

In activity we must find our joy as well as glory; and labor, like everything else that is good, is its own reward.

The value of an ambitious goal is not measured by what it will bring to you. The worth of a goal is measured by what it will make of you in the process of following and attaining it.

If you want to be powerful in life you have to enjoy the process. You have to get pleasure out of making the thing that you're making. There has to be that kind of purpose behind it. If your purpose is simply gaining power, if that becomes your end in life then you end up sort of destroying yourself because you lose the sense of detachment that's very necessary.

The more we sense...our ultimate potential, the more determined we become to achieve it. It's the difference between your mother hounding you to practice the piano and reaching the point where you want to do it yourself. You simply will not be denied the ultimate reward and the joy of the Big Finish. p 90

Ultimately one loves one's desires and not that which is desired.

I claim my heart's desire, and I choose my direction. I will attain my chosen goal.

Most people achieve their goals and are like, "Is this all there is?" We are supposed to keep growing so we have something to get. What we get never makes us happy. You play yourself when you forget that.

Never settle for anything less than you want.

Success is not something you get out of what you do.

The distance between a person's dream and their accomplishments can only be measured by their desire.

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.

Music has always been my back door to life. It is important for people to find something that excites them. I like the concept that if you do what excites you, you will be rewarded generously, whatever form reward takes, which is not necessarily money.

My aim in life isn't so much the pursuit of happiness as the happiness of pursuit.

I want to do it for myself. It's my goal and dream. All I can ask for is to get the chance and go out there and do the best I can, be as ready as I can.

Songwriting is like going to church. I'm connecting to something, and it's rewarding in really important ways. I don't need to share it with anyone to feel good about it.

It's good to test yourself and develop your talents and ambitions as fully as you can and achieve greater success; but I think success is the feeling you get from a job well done, and the key thing is to do the work.

I'm not doing my work for constant success.

My ambition comes from my passion: finding what I love and then expanding on that.

It took the producers a while to realize I wanted a full-bodied life. I wanted to get out before I felt I'd sacrificed so much to get somewhere that I couldn't afford to leave.