Samuel Johnson Quotes

I start a picture and I finish it.

Ideas aren't magical; the only tricky part is holding on to one long enough to get it written down.

Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable and you will never be asked to do a thing.

[General Charles George "Chinese"] Gordon, as a political figure was absolutely hopeless. He was so erratic, capricious, utterly unreliable, his mood changed so often, his temper was abominable, he was frequently drunk, and yet with all he had a tremendous sense of honor and great abilities.

If I'm connected to an idea, it just doesn't let me go. All I have to do is catch up to the image in my head by doing the practical steps to get there.

Write about it by day and dream about it by night.

Make few resolutions, but keep them strictly

Regardless of where you're pitching, regardless of what goes on before or after your game, you still have to be ready.

There are a thousand things to hear about, informationally, daily, but the thing that doesn't go away is the one to pay attention to.

Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self.

Concentrate on something useful. Having decided to achieve a task, achieve it at all costs.

What a different story men would have to tell if only they would adopt a DEFINITE PURPOSE, and stand by that purpose until it had time to become an all-consuming obsession!

The backbone of success is...hard work, determination, good planning, and perserverence.

You have to stick to your goals of progress.

Constant hammering on one nail will generally drive it home at last, so that it can be clinched. When a man's undivided attention is centered on one object, his mind will constantly be suggesting improvements of value, which would escape him if his brain was occupied by a dozen different subjects at once.

We spend our whole lives worrying about the future, planning for the future, trying to predict the future, as if figuring it out will cushion the blow. But the future is always changing. The future is the home of our deepest fears and wildest hopes. But one thing is certain when it finally reveals itself. The future is never the way we imagined it.

If you desire to dig a well to reach water, your efforts are more fruitful if you dig one 100-foot-deep hole than if you dig ten holes each 10 feet deep.

I find that one of the most important things, as a writer, is to just show up - to just stay in the chair and fight through the difficult patches. As long as you're at the desk, and you're willing to fight it out, eventually the right words will come.

I don't believe in luck. ... It's persistence, hard work, and not forgetting your dream.

I have to do what I'm doing at the time. That's the most important thing. You might lose some people along the way, and you might gain other people on the way, that's just the way it is. But nevertheless, if you're driven by something, there is no argument about it; that's what you have to do.

Throw strikes. Home plate don't move.

Just keep taking the next step and keep having excellence in the ordinary.

Have a plan. Follow the plan, and you'll be surprised how successful you can be. Most people don't have a plan. That's why it's easy to beat most folks.

When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.

When I go after something, I go after it hard. It has always been that way. I don't know. It's in my blood.