"I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art." – Madonna (b.1958)

"To me, the whole process of being a brush stroke in someone else's painting is a little difficult." – Madonna (b.1958)

"When I'm hungry, I eat. When I'm thirsty, I drink. When I feel like saying something, I say it." – Madonna (b.1958)

Intellectual achievements are the result of thought consecrated to the search for knowledge or for the beautiful and true in nature. Such achievements may sometimes be connected with vanity and ambition, but they are not the outcome of those characteristics. They are the natural outgrowth of long and arduous effort, and of pure and unselfish thoughts. Spiritual achievements are the consummation of holy aspirations. He who lives constantly in the conception of noble and lofty thoughts, who dwells upon all that is pure and selfless, will, as surely as the sun reaches its zenith and the moon its full, become wise and noble in character and rise into a position of influence and blessedness.

Achievement of any kind is the crown of effort, the diadem of thought. By the aid of self-control, resolution, purity, righteousness, and well-directed thought a man ascends. By the aid of animality, indolence, impurity, corruption, and confusion of thought a man descends. A man may rise to high success in the world, even to lofty attitudes in the spiritual realm, and again descend into weakness and wretchedness by allowing arrogant, selfish, and corrupt thoughts to take possession of him.

Victories attained by right thought can be maintained only by watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure. All achievements, whether in the business, intellectual, or spiritual world, are the result of definitely directed thought, are governed by the same law, and are of the same method. The only difference is in the object of attainment.

He who would accomplish little need sacrifice little; he would would achieve much must sacrifice much. He who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.

"Time is your most important asset. Split your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few as possible to meaningless activity." – Ingvar Kamprad (b.1926)

"I'm not afraid of turning 80 and I have lots of things to do. I don't have time for dying." – Ingvar Kamprad (b.1926)

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein." – H. Jackson Brown