“I do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but it will get you pretty near.”

“To Santa Fe
Do you need it?
Can you feel it in the same old way?
I can feel it from the mountain top
Runnin' down to the foamy brine
In a rest'rant 'cross a table top
Looking into a glass of wine
Whispering in the evening breeze
Green leaves glist'ning eucalyptus trees
Can you hear them?
Or get near them?”

Van Morrison (1945) Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician

“You may not agree, you may not care, but
if you are holding this book you should know that of all the sights I love in this world — and there are plenty — very near the top of the list is this one: dogs without leashes.”

Mary Oliver (1935–2019) American writer

“Think highly of yourself, that's how you get to the top”

Cornelius Keagon (1996) Liberian humanitarian aid worker

“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”

John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach

“If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.”

Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker

“Anyone who, for 25 years, has built a career on such tenuous foundations as a high-pitched giggle, a raspberry and a sprinkling of top 'Cs' needs all the friends he can get.”

Harry Secombe (1921–2001) British entertainer

“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.”

Newt Gingrich (1943) Professor, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

“We can get on top of the world in most circumstances if we know and practice correct breathing, but without it we will always be working on one cylinder, and at the bottom of our form. For correct breathing feeds our minds as well as our bodies.”

Vera Stanley Alder (1898–1984) British artist

“Hierarchies only work to the benefit of those on the top. If you’re high, you’ll get by. If you’re low, out you go! That’s how it is.”

Michael Swanwick book The Iron Dragon's Daughter