The real joy in life comes from finding your true purpose and aligning it with what you do every single day.

Success leaves clues. Go figure out what someone who was successful did, and model it. Improve it, but learn their steps. They have knowledge.

The third element of success is your state: You must replace a default state of pessimism or anger with one of determination, of will, of generosity, of curiosity, of gratitude. The more we can put ourselves in such beautiful states rather than suffering states, the more they become habits of being and we end up making better decisions.

Common sense is not too common.

The power of reading a great book is that you start thinking like the author. For those magical moments while you are immersed in the forests of Arden, you are William Shakespeare; while you are shipwrecked on Treasure Island, you are Robert Louis Stevenson; while you are communing with nature at Walden, you are Henry David Thoreau. You start to think like they think, feel like they feel, and use imagination as they would. Their references become your own, and you carry these with you long after you've turned the last page.

There are a lot of talkers in the world. There are a lot of people who know what’s right and what’s powerful, yet still aren’t producing the results they desire. It’s not enough to talk the talk. You’ve got to walk the talk

The path to success is to take massive, determined action.