Do not let yourselves be discouraged or embittered by the smallness of the success you are likely to achieve in trying to make life better. You certainly would not be able, in a single generation, to create an earthly paradise. Who could expect that? But, if you make life ever so little better, you will have done splendidly, and your lives will have been worthwhile.
—Arnold J. Toynbee (1889–1975) British Historian
Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The “sure thing” boat never gets far from shore.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right-about-face which turns us from failure towards success.
—Dorothea Brande (1893–1948) American Writer, Editor
Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
Every failure, obstacle or hardship is an opportunity in disguise. Success in many cases is failure turned inside out. The greatest pollution problem we face today is negativity. Eliminate the negative attitude and believe you can do anything. Replace ‘if I can, I hope, maybe’ with ‘I can, I will, I must.’
—Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
It’s your aptitude, not just your attitude that determines your ultimate altitude.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
True success is overcoming the fear of being unsuccessful.
—Paul Sweeney
Eighty percent of success is showing up.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
That man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.
—Arthur Ashe (1943–93) American Tennis Player
The prosperous man is never sure that he is loved for himself.
—Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) (39–65 CE) Roman Statesman, Latin Poet
The secret of success is this: there is no secret of success.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Try not to become a man of success, but rather to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.
—Vince Lombardi (1913–70) American Football Coach
Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Real success is not on the stage, but off the stage as a human being, and how you get along with your fellow man.
—Sammy Davis, Jr. (1925–90) American Singer, Musician, Dancer, Actor
Every success is built on the ability to do better than good enough.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
The greatest things are accomplished by individual people, not by committees or companies.
—Alfred A. Montapert
Success is the necessary misfortune of life, but it is only to the very unfortunate that it comes early.
—Anthony Trollope (1815–82) English Novelist
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
—Robert F. Kennedy (1925–68) American Politician, Civil Rights Activist
Would you like me to give you a formula for … success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure… You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all… You can be discouraged by failure–or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because, remember that’s where you’ll find success. On the far side.
—Thomas J. Watson, Sr. (1874–1956) American Business Executive
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting — in the trying, not the triumph, Success is a personal standard — reaching for the highest that is in us — becoming all that we can be. If we do our best, we are a success. Success is the maximum utilization of the ability that you have.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
The journey is the reward.
—Chinese Proverb
I couldn’t wait for success… so I went ahead without it.
—Jonathan Winters (b.1925) American Comedian, Film Personality, TV Personality
Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
When you ascend the hill of prosperity, may you not meet a friend.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Prosperity discovers vice, adversity discovers virtue.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Disciplining yourself to do what you know is right and important, although difficult, is the highroad to pride, self-esteem, and personal satisfaction.
—Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British Head of State
A successful man is one who lays a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.
—Swami Chinmayananda (1916–93) Indian Hindu Teacher
The toughest thing about success is that you’ve got to keep on being a success. Talent is only a starting point in business. You’ve got to keep working that talent.
—Irving Berlin
There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) American Novelist, Poet
The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
—Bessie Anderson Stanley American Poet
The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows.
—Aristotle Onassis (1906–75) Greek Businessperson
Don’t mistake activity for achievement.
—John Wooden (1910–2010) American Sportsperson
Doubt is the vestibule which all must pass before they can enter the temple of wisdom. — When we are in doubt and puzzle out the truth by our own exertions, we have gained something that will stay by us and will serve us again. — But if to avoid the trouble of the search we avail ourselves of the superior information of a friend, such knowledge will not remain with us; we have not bought, but borrowed it.
—Charles Caleb Colton (1780–1832) English Angelic Priest, Writer, Collector
Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed than one in adversity.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
Success is more a function of consistent common sense than it is of genius.
—An Wang (1920–90) Chinese-born American Engineer, Inventor, Entrepreneur
The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Explorer
If you achieve success, you will get applause, and if you get applause, you will hear it. My advice to you concerning applause is this; enjoy it but never quite believe it.
—Robert Montgomery
Most of us serve our ideals by fits and starts. The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.
—Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959) American Film Producer, Film Director, Screenwriter, Actor
You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.
—Warren Buffett (b.1930) American Investor
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.
—Colin Powell (b.1937) American Military Leader
Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
Success doesn’t come to you — you go to it.
—Marva Collins (b.1936) American Educator
If you want greater prosperity in your life, start forming a vacuum to receive it.
—Catherine Ponder
Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Success with money, family, relationships, health, and careers is the ability to reach your personal objectives in the shortest time, with the least effort and with the fewest mistakes. The goals you set for yourself and the strategies you choose become your blueprint or plan. Strategies are like recipes: choose the right ingredients, mix them in the correct proportions, and you will always produce the same predictable results: in this case financial success. The success strategies for managing money and building wealth are called Money Strategies. By learning to use money strategies as a part of your day-to-day life, financial frustration and failure will become a thing of the past.
—Charles J. Givens (1941–98) American Self-Help Writer
Success is transient, evanescent. The real passion lies in the poignant acquisition of knowledge about all the shading and subtleties of the creative secrets.
—Constantin Stanislavski (1863–1938) Russian Actor, Theater Personality
Success, in a generally accepted sense of the term, means the opportunity to experience and to realize to the maximum the forces that are within us.
—David Sarnoff (1891–1972) American Broadcaster, Businessman
I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.
—Unknown
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate,
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
Success requires first expending ten units of effort to produce one unit of results. Your momentum will then produce ten units of results with each unit of effort.
—Charles J. Givens (1941–98) American Self-Help Writer
Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.
—Charles Kuralt (1934–97) American Journalist, TV Personality
The gent who wakes up and finds himself a success hasn’t been asleep.
—Wilson Mizner (1876–1933) American Playwright, Entrepreneur
The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do without thought of fame. If it comes at all it will come because it is deserved, not because it is sought after.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
There is a woman at the beginning of all great things.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
No matter what you do, do it to your utmost. I always attribute my success to always requiring myself to do my level best, if only in driving a tack in straight.
—Russell Conwell (1843–1925) American Baptist Minister, Orator, Philanthropist, Lawyer, Academic
If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.
—Dan Quayle (b.1947) American Head of State, Politician, Elected Rep
There is no royal road; you’ve got to work a good deal harder than most people want to work.
—Charles E. Wilson (1886–1972) American Businessperson
What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.
—Bob Dylan (b.1941) American Singer, Songwriter, Musician
The only way around is through.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.
—John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874–1960) American Philanthropist, Businessperson
The best revenge is massive success.
—Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) American Singer
Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labor is immense.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist
Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest.
—Georgia O’Keeffe (1887–1986) American Painter
Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
Our business in life is not to get ahead of others but to get ahead of ourselves – to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterdays by our today, to do our work with more force than ever before.
—Stewart B. Johnson
It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other people are doing with the same set of facts.
—Burton Hillis (William E. Vaughan) (1915–77) American Columnist, Author
Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified. He that labors in any great or laudable undertaking has his fatigues first supported by hope and afterward rewarded by joy.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Success in its highest and noblest form calls for peace of mind and enjoyment and happiness which come only to the man who has found the work that he likes best.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition — in having put forth the best within you.
—Henry J. Kaiser (1882–1967) American Industrialist
It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is how the whole scheme of things works. All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.
—Morarji Desai (1896–1995) Indian Statesman, Nationalist Leader
Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people—your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way.
—Barbara Bush (1925–2018) American First Lady
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
Nothing succeeds like success.
—Common Proverb
Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterward carefully avoid.
—John Keats (1795–1821) English Poet
Successful people are the ones who think up things for the rest of the world to keep busy at.
—Don Marquis (1878–1937) American Humorist, Journalist, Novelist, Playwright, Writer
We do not know, in most cases, how far social failure and success are due to heredity, and how far to environment. But environment is the easier of the two to improve.
—J. B. S. Haldane (1892–1964) British Biologist, Geneticist
He has achieved success who has worked well, laughed often, and loved much.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Success is peace of mind, a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming, and not just in a physical way: seek ye first the kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be yours as well.
—John Wooden (1910–2010) American Sportsperson
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it’s the same problem you had last year.
—John Foster Dulles (1888–1959) American Lawyer, Diplomat, Politician
I am always doing things I can’t do, that’s how I get to do them.
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish Painter, Sculptor, Artist
Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.
—Lily Tomlin
For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.
—Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Virtually nothing comes out right the first time. Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. The only time you don’t want to fail is the last time you try something … One fails forward toward success.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Failure and success seem to have been allotted to men by their stars. But they retain the power of wriggling, of fighting with their star or against it, and in the whole universe the only really interesting movement is this wriggle.
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
So much to do, so little done, such things to be.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
Achievement is not always success while reputed failure often is. It is honest endeavor, persistent effort to do the best possible under any and all circumstances.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur