“Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.”

—  Albert Einstein

As quoted by LIFE magazine (2 May 1955)
1950s
Variant: Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update April 19, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value." by Albert Einstein?
Albert Einstein photo
Albert Einstein 702
German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativi… 1879–1955
Albert Einstein quote: “Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.”

Related quotes

Albert Einstein photo

“Try not to become a man of success, but a man of value. Look around at how people want to get more out of life than they put in. A man of value will give more than he receives. Be creative, but make sure that what you create is not a curse for mankind.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Variant transcription from "Death of a Genius" in Life Magazine: "Try not to become a man of success but rather try 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."
Source: Attributed in posthumous publications, Einstein and the Poet (1983), p. 143

Theodore Roosevelt photo

“If a man does not have an ideal and try to live up to it, then he becomes a mean, base, and sordid creature, no matter how successful.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Letter to his son, Kermit, quoted in Theodore Roosevelt by Joseph Bucklin Bishop http://www.trsite.org/content/pages/speaking-loudly (1915)
1910s

“When a man’s success becomes commonplace to him, it is his success no longer.”

Henry S. Haskins (1875–1957)

Source: Meditations in Wall Street (1940), p. 104

Warren Farrell photo

“A man becomes successful by repressing his feelings, not expressing his feelings.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say (2000), p. 16.

Jack Vance photo

“There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is impossible.”

Jack Vance book The Languages of Pao

Source: The Languages of Pao (1958), Chapter 13 (p. 133)

Warren Farrell photo

“[Success as panacea and trap:] The less a man is willing to give up a sex object, the more he’ll be trapped into becoming a success object.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: Why Men Are the Way They Are (1988), p. 134.

Warren Farrell photo

“[T]he men who are successful have become the most dependent on success to attract love. When this man loses his success, he often fears he will lose love.”

Warren Farrell book The Myth of Male Power

Source: The Myth of Male Power (1993), Part II: The Glass Cellars of the disposable sex, p. 172.

“Rather, for all objects and experiences there is a quantity that has an optimum value. Above that quantity, the variable becomes toxic. To fall below that value is to be deprived.”

Gregory Bateson (1904–1980) English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist

Source: Mind and Nature: A Necessary Unity, 1979, p. 56

James Allen photo

“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”

James Allen (1864–1912) British philosophical writer

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Serenity
Context: The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of him and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.

Related topics