Quand on écrit avec facilité, on croit toujours avoir plus de talent qu'on en a. Pour bien écrire, il faut une facilité naturelle et une difficulté acquise.

-- Joseph Joubert

C'est le travail qui importe. Sans travail, le talent n'est qu'un feu d'artifice: ça éblouit un instant, mais il n'en reste rien.

-- Roger Martin du Gard

Le talent sans génie est peu de chose, mais le génie sans talent n'est rien.

-- Gilbert Sinoué

Le génie sans travail n'est pas génie car il n'invente rien, le champion sans travail n'est pas champion car il ne gagne rien, la star sans travail n'est plus star car elle ne brille plus. Peu sont génies, champions ou stars mais tout un chacun peut aller au bout de ses capacités quand les conditions favorables à la mise en acte de sa bonne volonté sont réunies. Cette victoire fortifie et contribue grandement au bonheur. Oui, rien ne résiste au travail.

-- L'Express

For me, the book is one of the things I've done.  I don't define myself an author, I wrote a book.  I don't define myself as a speaker, I speak because people invite me to speak and when they stop inviting me, I'll stop speaking.  But it's this cause, it's the idea, it's spreading the WHY to me that matters most.  And so you think you are talking about a book, I think we're talking about an idea.  And if it happens to be in a book, that means people can get all the details from the book and you can get it without me.  For me it's the joy of having a book.  Which is, I can spread the idea to more people than ever I can speak to.  So thank you for that, thanks for helping.

-- Simon Sinek

Simon made this quote during an interview on Mixergy.com with Andrew Warner

My WHY is to inspire people to do the things that inspire them.  And I wake up every single day with that sense of purpose and cause to inspire people to do the things that inspire them.  And for me, the fun is trying to come up with all the new and different ways, what I can do to bring that to life.  Whether it's writing a book, or giving a podcast, or going on TV, or writing an article, or speaking, or anything else that probably has not being thought of yet.  For me the goal is to come up with all the different ways I can share my WHY, spread my WHY.  But the thing that motivates me everyday is not to write a book.  That's a horrible experience.  The thing that motivates me everyday is to give, is to share the WHY, to inspire people to do the things that inspire them.

-- Simon Sinek

Simon made this quote during an interview on Mixergy.com with Andrew Warner

A model of pregnancy fitness, the singer Kelly Rowland (who is expecting her first child, a boy, with husband Tim Witherspoon) has been working out with a trainer five days a week throughout her trimesters. And her hard work shows: In October, the mom-to-be posed for ELLE.com with nothing but some light drapery to show off her toned physique. "It's really – I won't say amazing – it's Godmazing [laughs] watching your body carry a human," Rowland said of shooting in the buff. "Why wouldn't you want to celebrate that? The body should be celebrated."

-- People

Even though skimpy bikinis are part of the beach volleyball player's everyday life, posing in the buff was enough to make her "sweat bullets." But the three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings overcame her insecurities and bared all on the cover of ESPN The Magazine, while pregnant and after giving birth to daughter Scout Margery last month. "When it came down to it, I had the opportunity to do something uncomfortable. I think that's an important part of life."

-- People

Do something UNCOMFORTABLE.

You can't say shit to Kanye West no more

-- Kanye West, "Last Call"

Genius.com interpretation: Nobody can tell Kanye what the fuck to do. He is what everyone wants to be… they own man.

Being a big fan of movies, Desplat set his sights on becoming a film composer from an early age and took actions to make this dream a reality as soon as he started thinking of building a career. He worked on his first film Le souffleur in 1986.

When recording the music for his first film, he met violinist Dominique Lemonnier who became his favorite soloist, artistic director and wife.

-- Wikipedia

A good example of what the Holstee manifesto says: If you're looking for the love of your life, stop; she'll be waiting for you when you start doing what you love.

When I was 16 years old, I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different and I felt like I did not belong. And now I'm standing here, and so I would like this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she's weird or she's different or she doesn't fit in anywhere. Yes, you do. I promise you do. Stay weird. Stay different, and then when it's your turn and you are standing on this stage, please pass this same message to the next person who comes along.

-- Graham Moore, during this emotional speech after his win for best adapted screenplay for "The Imitation Game"

To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.

-- Denzel Washington

The effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is.

-- Jim Carrey, during his commencement address at the 2014 Maharishi University of Management

But you guys are way ahead of the game. You already know who you are and that peace, that peace that we’re after, lies somewhere beyond personality, beyond the perception of others, beyond invention and disguise, even beyond effort itself. You can join the game, fight the wars, play with form all you want, but to find real peace, you have to let the armor fall. Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. Don’t let anything stand in the way of the light that shines through this form. Risk being seen in all of your glory.

-- Jim Carrey, during his commencement address at the 2014 Maharishi University of Management

Lessons learned from the movie Finding Joe

http://yourhappyplaceblog.com/2014/09/04/lessons-learned-from-the-movie-finding-joe/

You gotta go through pain in order to become you

-- Jay-Z, "Power Remix" w/ Kanye West

I think a lot of people are afraid of being happy because of what others might think of it. They're afraid to embrace that and embrace themselves and love themselves and do what they love and do what makes them happy.  It is very easy to get sucked into that way of thinking and working according to society, but you have to write your own story.  And my story is definitely going to be a happily ever after, no matter what.

-- Rihanna