Quotes about success and happiness

Related topics
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk photo

“Our object now is to strengthen the ties that bind us to other nations. There may be a great many countries in the world, but there is only one civilization, and if a nation is to achieve progress, she must be a part of this civilization. The Ottoman Empire began to decline the day when, proud of her success against the West, she cut the ties that bound her to the European nations.”

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and the first President of Turkey

Speech to the press (29 October 1923), quoted in Vakur Versan, 'The Kemalist Reform of Turkish Law and Its Impact', in Jacob M. Landau (ed.), Atatürk and the Modernization of Turkey (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1984), p. 247

Lin Yutang photo

“This is a personal testimony, a testimony of my own experience of thought and life. It is not intended to be objective and makes no claim to establish eternal truths. In fact I rather despise claims to objectivity in philosophy; the point of view is the thing.”

Preface
The Importance of Living (1937)
Context: This is a personal testimony, a testimony of my own experience of thought and life. It is not intended to be objective and makes no claim to establish eternal truths. In fact I rather despise claims to objectivity in philosophy; the point of view is the thing. I should have liked to call it "A Lyrical Philosophy," using the word "lyrical" in the sense of being a highly personal and individual outlook...

James Cameron photo
James Allen photo

“Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.”

James Allen (1864–1912) British philosophical writer

As A Man Thinketh (1902), Visions and Ideals
Context: To desire is to obtain; to aspire is to, achieve. Shall man's basest desires receive the fullest measure of gratification, and his purest aspirations starve for lack of sustenance? Such is not the Law: such a condition of things can never obtain: "ask and receive."
Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.

James Allen photo
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.

Golda Meir photo

“What person with any sense likes himself? I know myself too well to like myself.”

Golda Meir (1898–1978) former prime minister of Israel

Fallaci interview (1973)

Huey Long photo
Huey Long photo

“I'm for the poor man — all poor men, black and white, they all gotta have a chance. They gotta have a home, a job, and a decent education for their children. 'Every man a king”

Huey Long (1893–1935) American politician, Governor of Louisiana, and United States Senator

that's my slogan.
Huey Long (T. Harry Williams, Huey Long, p. 706)

Jack Welch photo
Mikhail Lermontov photo
John D. Rockefeller photo

“I believe the power to make money is a gift of God … to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind.”

John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist

Interview with William Hoster, quoted in God's Gold (1932) by John T. Flynn
Context: I believe the power to make money is a gift of God … to be developed and used to the best of our ability for the good of mankind. Having been endowed with the gift I possess, I believe it is my duty to make money and still more money and to use the money I make for the good of my fellow man according to the dictates of my conscience.

Burt Rutan photo
Osamu Dazai photo
Osamu Dazai photo
Osamu Dazai photo
Albert Einstein quote: “Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value.”
Albert Einstein photo

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

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

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

Osamu Dazai photo