quotations about success
It is perfectly obvious that in any decent occupation (such as bricklaying or writing books) there are only two ways (in any special sense) of succeeding. One is by doing very good work, the other is by cheating. Both are much too simple to require any literary explanation. If you are in for the high jump, either jump higher than any one else, or manage somehow to pretend that you have done so. If you want to succeed at whist, either be a good whist-player, or play with marked cards. You may want a book about jumping; you may want a book about whist; you may want a book about cheating at whist. But you cannot want a book about Success. Especially you cannot want a book about Success such as those which you can now find scattered by the hundred about the book-market. You may want to jump or to play cards; but you do not want to read wandering statements to the effect that jumping is jumping, or that games are won by winners. If these writers, for instance, said anything about success in jumping it would be something like this: "The jumper must have a clear aim before him. He must desire definitely to jump higher than the other men who are in for the same competition. He must let no feeble feelings of mercy (sneaked from the sickening Little Englanders and Pro-Boers) prevent him from trying to do his best. He must remember that a competition in jumping is distinctly competitive, and that, as Darwin has gloriously demonstrated, THE WEAKEST GO TO THE WALL." That is the kind of thing the book would say, and very useful it would be, no doubt, if read out in a low and tense voice to a young man just about to take the high jump. Or suppose that in the course of his intellectual rambles the philosopher of Success dropped upon our other case, that of playing cards, his bracing advice would run--"In playing cards it is very necessary to avoid the mistake (commonly made by maudlin humanitarians and Free Traders) of permitting your opponent to win the game. You must have grit and snap and go in to win. The days of idealism and superstition are over. We live in a time of science and hard common sense, and it has now been definitely proved that in any game where two are playing IF ONE DOES NOT WIN THE OTHER WILL." It is all very stirring, of course; but I confess that if I were playing cards I would rather have some decent little book which told me the rules of the game. Beyond the rules of the game it is all a question either of talent or dishonesty; and I will undertake to provide either one or the other--which, it is not for me to say.
G. K. CHESTERTON
"The Fallacy of Success", All Things Considered
It's very important that people aspire to be successful. The only way you can do it is if you look at somebody who is.
DONALD TRUMP
Playboy, March 1990
What is success?
Is it do your own thing?
Or to join the rest
And if you truly believe it,
And try over and over again
Living in hopes
That someday you'll be in with the winners
BONNIE RAIT
"What Is Success?"
Those who succeed can't forgive a fellow for being a failure, and those who fail can't forgive him for being a success.
GEORGE HORACE LORIMER
Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son
The thermometer of success is merely the jealousy of the malcontents.
SALVADOR DALI
Conversations with Dali
Success is the child of Audacity.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
The Rise of Iskander
Success is not something you achieve, conquer, climb, or complete. Success is a process; it's a way of life.
ANTHONY ROBBINS
Unlimited Power: A Black Choice
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires a sorest need.
EMILY DICKINSON
"Success is counted sweetest"
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles one has overcome while trying to succeed.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
Up From Slavery
Success is full of promise till men get it, and then it seems like a nest from which the bird has flown.
HENRY WARD BEECHER
Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
Nothing succeeds like success.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
The Left Hand of Darkness
There are very few cases of overnight success. Most success cases--including rock bands who seem to explode out of nowhere--involve longer term persistence and commitment to an interest.
PATRICK COMBS
Major in Success
Success occurs when your dreams get bigger than your excuses.
ANONYMOUS
Success is an easy road (when gained).
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
When things go well, you should be suspicious. When things go exceptionally well, start sniffing for the dog crap on the bottom of your shoe.
ROB THURMAN
Nightlife
The highest and best sense in which a life is a success is within the reach of everyone. The successful life is a happy one, availing itself of the many advantages of personal culture, enjoying the sweetness and comfort of home, no matter how simple or even scanty the material furnishing may be. Above all money considerations, we may develop sterling, manly characters and have here and now the joy of heaven in our hearts and the life of heaven in our lives.
HENRY F. KLETZING & ELMER L. KLETZING
Traits of Character Illustrated in Bible Light
Success is a moving target.
TIM WATCKINS
"What does success look like for Baylor football in 2017?", Scout, July 10, 2017
No matter whether failure came
A thousand different times,
For one brief moment of success,
Life rang its golden chimes.
EDWIN LEIBFREED
"I Am Content"
The worst use that can be made of success is to boast of it.
ARTHUR HELPS
Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd
Success is in the student, not in the university; greatness is in the individual, not in the library; power is in the man, not in his crutches. A great man will make opportunities, even out of the commonest and meanest situations. If a man is not superior to his education, is not larger than his crutches or his helps, if he is not greater than the means of his culture, which are but the sign-boards pointing the way to success, he will never reach greatness. Not learning, not culture alone, not helps and opportunities, but personal power and sterling integrity, make a man great.
ORISON SWETT MARDEN
Success