It is comparatively easy to become a writer; staying a writer, resisting formulaic work, generating one's own creativity - that's a much tougher matter.

It's the African-American experience. You've got to wear different masks. When you're in the hood, if you stand out, you get picked on for being weak. Sometimes you have to hide your intelligence. In front of your boys, you might put on a bit of bravado, be a little bit tougher.

That's one thing I've learned, being the head coach - it's a little tougher to clear your mind and relax and do other things.

Even when I'm back home, I find the flat parts of the course tougher. Because it's flat, I feel it more in my knees.

If I want to go to Europe and get thrashed by the Europeans, that's my business. Every race I lose I learn from and get tougher.

I'm pretty easily overwhelmed and pretty tough as well. I think I'm tougher than I used to be. There's been a lot of hardship along the way. But that's what life is. And it's how you deal with those things, and how you let them shape you that makes you a better person and defines what sort of person you're going to be.

Life is tougher for Americans - especially for those who voted by the highest percentages for President Obama's promise of hope and change.

The average human attention span was 12 seconds in 2000 and 8 seconds in 2013. A drop of 33%. The scary part is that the attention span of a goldfish was 9 seconds, almost 13% more than us humans. That's why it's getting tougher by the day to get people to turn the page. Maybe we writers ought to try writing for goldfish!

The East is tougher than a lot of people give us credit for.

Age 50 is a lot tougher than 40s.

Always marry a woman from Texas. No matter how tough things get, she's seen tougher.

Tough times call for tougher decisions.

Guys are usually the tougher, make-it-happen no-matter-what kind of thing.

The harder they resist us, the tougher will be our response.

I know my destiny. I was born into animosity, bigotry and hatred. We had water for white folks, and water for coloured folks. White lines, black lines. I came from Beaufort in South Carolina, and it was tougher than Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

Newark might be one of few the places where the politics is tougher than even Brooklyn.

I think that one thing that I've prided myself on is that tough situations make for tougher people and that was one of my goals as well getting into this sport, I wanted to be a tougher human. I wanted to be a tougher man and basically when I had kids I'd be able to be like a superhero to them, and I feel like I'm accomplishing that.

If we don't make tough decisions today our children are going to have to make much, much tougher decisions tomorrow.

My father wasn't a cruel man. And I loved him. But he was a pretty tough character. His own father was even tougher - one of those Victorians, hard as iron - but my dad was tough enough.

Life is tough, but I'm tougher.