"Even in high school, I'd tell my mom I was sick of swimming and wanted to try to play golf. She wasn't too happy. She'd say, 'Think about this.' And I'd always end up getting back in the pool."

"Too many are trying to conquer higher weaknesses such as procrastination, impatience or pride while still being slaves to their appetites. If we can’t control the body and its appetites, how can we control our tongues, or overcome the emotions or anger, envy, jealousy, or hatred?"

"Emotional maturity is the ability to stick to a job and to struggle through until it is finished to endure unpleasantness discomfort and frustration."

"Once I get on a puzzle, I can't get off. If my mother's friend had said, 'Never mind, it's too much work,' I'd have blown my top, because I want to beat this damn thing, as long as I've gone this far. I can't just leave it after I've found out so much about it. I have to keep going to find out ultimately what is the matter with it in the end."

"Fortunate is the person who has developed the self-control to steer a straight course toward his objective in life without being swayed from his purpose by either commendation or condemnation."

"A disciple does not ask, 'How much can I keep?' but, 'How much more can I give?' Whenever we start to get comfortable with our level of giving, it's time to raise it again."

"I made the valuable discovery that practicing wasn't a matter of time at all. It was a matter of intensity. Five minutes spent working consciously and hard at the elimination of an error, was worth five hours just playing away ignoring errors as if they hadn't happened."