The best way to cope with trouble is to stay out of it as much as possible.

Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's level of aspiration and expectation.

I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head.

Success depends almost entirely on how effectively you learn to manage the game's two ultimate adversaries: the course and yourself.

Pursue what you love, what you are passionate about. Don't let somebody else dictate your life's path.

Resolve never to quit, never to give up, no matter what the situation.

Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work.

Talent isn't as important as the work and dedication necessary to become competent.

The worse you're performing, the more you must work mentally and emotionally. The greatest and toughest art in golf is "playing badly well." All the true greats have been masters at it.

I'm a firm believer that in the theory that people only do their best at things they truly enjoy. It is difficult to excel at something you don't enjoy.

A kid grows up a lot faster on the golf course. Golf teaches you how to behave.

I want all of my lasts to be with you

You believe me wise because I taught you once, but I have not been north, as you have. You have seen (what) I have never seen...You flatter me by asking my opinion.

The plan had three phases: dangerous, really dangerous and insanely dangerous.

A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is winning.

In securing the future of the planet, we secure happiness for ourselves. One of the aims of the Greens is to turn around the tide of pessimism amongst the young people of the world.

You can't clobber any reader while he's looking. You divert his attention, then you clobber him and he never knows what hit him.

I don't think there's such a thing as autobiographical fiction. If I say it happened, it happened, even if only in my mind.

A recurring ideal, I find, is that of simplicity. At times there comes the desire to write with great precision and clarity, words so simple and moving that they bring tears to the eyes.

Poetry is like making a joke. If you get one word wrong at the end of a joke, you've lost the whole thing.