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Quotes about success

561 quotes from 329 people

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Where ambition can be so happy as to cover its enterprizes, even to the person himself, under the appearance of principle, it is the most incurable and inflexible of all human passions.
David Hume1711–1776The History of England (1754-62)
- Character
- Motivation & Goals
Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to “jump at de sun.” We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.
Zora Neale Hurston1891–1960Dust Tracks on a Road (1942), Ch.2: My Folks, p. 13
- Family
- Motivation & Goals
I had a purpose before everybody had an opinion.
Jalen Hurtsborn 1998During a press conference with the media in build up to Super Bowl LVII (February 9, 2023).
- Motivation & Goals
Those who believe they are exclusively in the right are generally those who achieve something.
Aldous Huxley1894–1963Proper Studies (1927), “Note on Dogma”
Oh, what curse is it that makes everything I touch turn ludicrous and mean?
Henrik Ibsen1828–1906Hedda Gabler (1890), Act Fourth, spoken by HeddaIn context
- Failure
You’ve got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.
John Irvingborn 1942The Hotel New Hampshire, ch. 11
- Motivation & Goals
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
L. P. Jacks1860–1955Often credited to Winston Churchill
- Motivation & Goals
You must not surrender. You may or may not get there, but just know that you’re qualified and hold on and hold out.
Jesse Jackson1941–2026Address to the Democratic National Convention (July 19, 1988)
- Motivation & Goals
She had an unequalled gift, especially pen in hand, of squeezing big mistakes into small opportunities.
Henry James1843–1916“Greville Fane”, from The Real Thing: and Other Tales (1893)
- Clever Jabs
- Failure
I hope we shall… crush in it’s birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826to George Logan, 1816
- Business
- Government
The selfish spirit of commerce knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Letter to Larkin Smith (1809)
- Business
- Money
But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Jesus7 BC–AD 30The Gospel of Matthew (1611), Matthew 19:30 (KJV)In context
It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the Navy.
Steve Jobs1955–2011At a retreat in September 1982, as quoted in John Sculley and John A. Byrne, Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple – A Journey of Adventure, Ideas, and the Future (1987), p. 157
- Business
You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.
Steve Jobs1955–2011Interview with Inc. Magazine for its “The Entrepreneur of the Decade Award” (1 April 1989)
- Business
Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.
Steve Jobs1955–2011On the success of Bill Gates and Microsoft, as quoted in The Wall Street Journal (Summer 1993)
- Money