“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.”
Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American motivational speaker
Success Quotes page 3
Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American motivational speaker
“More is lost by indecision than wrong decision.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero (-106–-43 BC) Roman philosopher and statesman
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
Laozi (-604) semi-legendary Chinese figure, attributed to the 6th century, regarded as the author of the Tao Te Ching and fou…
“The trouble is, you think you have time.”
Jack Kornfield (1945) American writer
Source: Buddha's Little Instruction Book
“If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.”
Thomas Watson, Jr. (1914–1993) American businessman and diplomat
“The opportunity of your life, it's you.”
Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer
Original: (it) L'occasione della tua vita, sei tu.
Source: prevale.net
“A great man is always willing to be little.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
1840s, Essays: First Series (1841), Compensation
Context: Our strength grows out of our weakness. The indignation which arms itself with secret forces does not awaken until we are pricked and stung and sorely assailed. A great man is always willing to be little. Whilst he sits on the cushion of advantages, he goes to sleep. When he is pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something; he has been put on his wits, on his manhood; he has gained facts; learns his ignorance; is cured of the insanity of conceit; has got moderation and real skill. The wise man throws himself on the side of his assailants. It is more his interest than it is theirs to find his weak point. The wound cicatrizes and falls off from him like a dead skin, and when they would triumph, lo! he has passed on invulnerable. Blame is safer than praise. I hate to be defended in a newspaper. As long as all that is said is said against me, I feel a certain assurance of success. But as soon as honeyed words of praise are spoken for me, I feel as one that lies unprotected before his enemies. In general, every evil to which we do not succumb is a benefactor.
“I think it’s intoxicating when somebody is so unapologetically who they are.”
Don Cheadle (1964) actor, film producer, philanthropist, and author
“Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending.”
Jim Henson (1936–1990) American puppeteer
“If my mind can conceive it; and my heart can believe it — then I can achieve it.”
Muhammad Ali book The Soul of a Butterfly
Similar to a quote by Jesse Jackson, which is in turn a modification of a quote by Napoleon Hill: "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve."
Misattributed
Source: The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey
“The path to success is to take massive, determined action.”
Anthony Robbins (1960) Author, actor, professional speaker
“To be or not to be. That's not really a question.”
Jean-Luc Godard (1930) French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic
“Think like a queen. A queen if not afraid to fail. Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.”
Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
“Your attitude determines your altitude.”
Zig Ziglar
200 Motivational and inspirational Quotes That Will Inspire Your Success
Variant: Your attitude determines your altitude. - Zig Ziglar
Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer
Positive Thinking Every Day : An Inspiration for Each Day of the Year (1993), "April 13"
Earlier variant: People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. And those who have learned to have a realistic, nonegotistical belief in themselves, who possess a deep and sound self-confidence, are assets to mankind, too, for they transmit their dynamic quality to those lacking it.
You Can If You Think You Can (1987), p. 84
“Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
Statement of January 1991, as quoted in Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett (2007) by Andrew Kilpatrick
“Not he who has much is rich, but he who gives much.”
Erich Fromm (1900–1980) German social psychologist and psychoanalyst
“Do for yourself, for no one else will.”
Johanna Lindsey (1952–2019) American writer
Source: A Heart So Wild
Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer
Source: Personal Success
“You cannot be really first-rate at your work if your work is all you are.”
Anna Quindlen (1952) journalist, Novelist
Source: A Short Guide to a Happy Life
“Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.”
George E. Woodberry (1855–1930) American poet and literary critic
“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”
Maya Angelou book Letter to My Daughter
Source: Letter to My Daughter
“Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.”
Jonathan Kozol (1936) American activist and educator
“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.”
Jimmy Johnson (1928) American Chicago blues guitarist and singer
“Your success and happiness lie in you.”
Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist
Martha Graham (1894–1991) American dancer and choreographer
As quoted in The Life and Work of Martha Graham (1991) by Agnes de Mille, p. 264, <!-- de Mille precedes the Graham quotation with: "The greatest thing she ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of Oklahoma!, when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda. I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me, very quietly, ... " -->
Context: There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
“The successful man will profit from his mistakes and
try again in a different way.”
Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer
“It was a Monday and they walked on a tightrope to the sun.”
Markus Zusak book The Book Thief
Source: The Book Thief
“There is no "I" in team but there is in win.”
Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.”
David Brinkley (1920–2003) American journalist
“The road to success is always under construction”
Lily Tomlin (1939) American actress, comedian, writer, and producer
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal.”
Earl Nightingale (1921–1989) American motivational speaker
“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”
Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer
Dale Carnegie, quoted in Permission to Play : Taking Time to Renew Your Smile (2003) by Jill Murphy Long, p. 69
Lucille Ball (1911–1989) American actress and businesswoman
Variant: Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. Your really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.
“Your attitude determines your altitude”
Stephen R. Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
“Change your thoughts and you can change the world.”
Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American writer
As quoted in Back on Track : How to Straighten Out Your Life When It Throws You a Curve (1997) by Deborah Norville, p. 201
Variant: Change your thoughts and you change your world.
“Wealth is not about having a lot of money; it's about having a lot of options.”
Chris Rock (1965) American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer, and director
“There is plenty of work for love to do.”
Alexander McCall Smith book Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
Source: Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“A quitter never wins-and-a winner never quits.”
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author
Variant: A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.
Source: Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright
Everybody's Political What's What? (ebook, must be borrowed) https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24979564M/Everybody's_political_what's_what (1944), Chapter XXXVII: Creed and Conduct, p. 330 <br class="br">1940s and later <br class="br">Variant: Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. <br class="br">Context: Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. Creeds, articles, and institutes of religious faith ossify our brains and make change impossible. As such they are nuisances, and in practice have to be mostly ignored.
Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer
As quoted in The Films of Barbra Streisand (2001) by Christopher Nickens and Karen Swenson
Variant: Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn't that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.
“A year from now you may wish you had started today.”
Karen Lamb (1982) British tennis player
Colin Powell (1937) Former U.S. Secretary of State and retired four-star general
As quoted in The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell (2003) by Oren Harari, p. 164.
2000s
“Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great”
John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist
Earliest citation found in Google Books is from 1993 https://books.google.com/books?id=bdTko5oHTd4C&pg=PA25&dq=%22give+up+the+good+to+go+for+the+great%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiH2e_QivXLAhUps4MKHdf0A9wQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=%22give%20up%20the%20good%20to%20go%20for%20the%20great%22&f=false, where it is attributed to country-music singer Kenny Rogers. Not found attributed to Rockefeller until 2006 https://books.google.com/books?id=F7OGT9WTiPQC&pg=PA24&dq=%22give+up+the+good%22+%22go+for+the+great%22+rockefeller&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjw_rb9ivXLAhXrmoMKHbgHBqkQ6wEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=%22give%20up%20the%20good%22%20%22go%20for%20the%20great%22%20rockefeller&f=false. <br class="br">Disputed <br class="br">Variant: Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.
John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America
Variant: Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope.”
Helen Keller book Optimism
Optimism (1903)
Variant: Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Said to Samuel J Woolf, Berlin, Summer 1929. Cited with additional notes in The Ultimate Quotable Einstein by Alice Calaprice and Freeman Dyson, Princeton UP (2010) p 230
1920s
Variant: If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
Stephen King (1947) American author
Source: On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Patrick Lencioni (1965) American writer
Source: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
“You can do anything, but not everything.”
David Allen (1945) American productivity consultant and author
“Your life only gets better when you get better.”
Brian Tracy (1944) American motivational speaker and writer
“He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.”
Confucius (-551–-479 BC) Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
“A witty woman is a treasure; a witty beauty is a power.”
George Meredith book Diana of the Crossways
Ch. 1 http://books.google.com/books?id=pDlxjZ-z-woC&q=%22A+witty+woman+is+a+treasure+a+witty+beauty+is+a+power%22&pg=PA2#v=onepage. <br class="br">Source: Diana of the Crossways http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4470/4470.txt (1885)
“It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting”
Paulo Coelho book The Alchemist
Variant: It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
Source: The Alchemist
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.”
Og Mandino (1923–1996) American author
“The secret to success is to do the common things uncommonly well.”
John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist
“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.”
Lena Horne (1917–2010) American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer
Variant: It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.
Earl Nightingale (1921–1989) American motivational speaker
“Live out of your imagination, not your history.”
Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker
As quoted in Wake-up Calls : You Don't Have to Sleepwalk through your Life, Love, or Career! (1992) by Eric Allenbaugh, p. 65
“Very little is needed to make a happy life.”
Marcus Aurelius book Meditations
ἐν ὀλιγίστοις κεῖται τὸ εὐδαιμόνως βιῶσαι
VII, 67
Source: Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book VII
“You must gain control over your money or the lack of it will forever control you.”
Dave Ramsey (1960) American financial advisor
“The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one's destiny to do, and then do it.”
Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist
Samuel Smiles (1812–1904) Scottish author
Source: Self-Help; with Illustrations of Character and Conduct (1859), Ch. XI : Self-Culture — Facilities and Difficulties.
Source: The Lives Of George And Robert Stephenson
Context: We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774) Irish physician and writer
Variant: Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Source: The Citizen of the World, Or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the Country, by Dr. Goldsmith
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Attribution debunked in Langworth's Churchill by Himself. The earliest close match located by the Quote Investigator is from the 1953 book How to Say a Few Words by David Guy Powers. <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. <br class="br">Source: 1953, How to Say a Few Words by David Guy Powers, Quote p. 109, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York. Referenced by Quote Investigator http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/06/28/success
“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.”
Lance Armstrong book Every Second Counts
Source: Every Second Counts
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
Variant: Your actions speak so loudly, I can not hear what you are saying.
Dr. Seuss (1904–1991) American children's writer and illustrator, co-founder of Beginner Books
Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)
Source: Oh, The Places You'll Go!
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British stateswoman and politician
This quote is widely attributed to Margaret Thatcher on various websites, and also appears in a number of books, including The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, Columbia University Press (1989), ed. Robert Andrews, p. 320 : ISBN 0231069901. 9780231069908 , but without any further source information such as date, location or any other context. <br class="br">One valid Thatcher quote which may be the basis for the version above appears in the Second Carlton Lecture http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/105799 (‘Why Democracy Will Last’), delivered at the Carlton Club, London (November 26, 1984) : Mr. Chairman, each generation has to stand up for democracy. It can’t take anything for granted and may have to fight fundamental battles anew. You know that marvellous quotation from Goethe : ‘That which thy fathers bequeathed thee / Earn it anew if thou would possess it.’ <br class="br">Thatcher also expressed this thought in a Speech to Atlantic Bridge (May 14, 2003) http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/111266, delivered at the St. Regis Hotel, New York City : My friends, every generation has to fight anew the battle for liberty. <br class="br">Disputed
Milan Kundera book The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Source: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), Part Two: Soul and Body, p 56
“Do the thing and you will have the power.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet
“Success is getting what you want.
Happiness is wanting what you get.”
Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) American businessman and philanthropist
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer.”
Harriet Tubman (1820–1913) African-American abolitionist and humanitarian