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Quotes about success

561 quotes from 329 people

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Constant practice devoted to one subject often prevails over both ability and skill.
Cicero107–43 BCPro Balbo, section 45
- Work
There are many things that seem impossible only so long as one does not attempt them.
André Gide1869–1951Si le grain ne meurt [If It Die] (1924), ch. III
- Motivation & Goals
Imagination, devotion, perseverance, together with divine grace, will assure your success.
Haile Selassie1892–1975Address on the 18th anniversary of his coronation (2 November 1948)
The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion.
Alexander Graham Bell1847–1922Interview in Orison Swett Marden, How They Succeeded (1901), ch. 2, “Bell Telephone Talk”
It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula K. Le Guin1929–2018The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), Chapter 15 “To the Ice” (p. 220)
- Motivation & Goals
Most men become successful and famous, not through ambition, but through ability and character.
WFWilliam Feather1889–1981The Business of Life (1949)
- Character
Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.
Jonathan Edwards1703–1758Seventy Resolutions (1722-1723), No. 5.
- Motivation & Goals
- Time
We don’t get paid for activity, just for being right. As to how long we’ll wait, we’ll wait indefinitely.
Warren Buffettborn 19301998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, quoted in Wait: The Art and Science of Delay (2012) by Frank Partnoy, p. 177
- Business
There is no chance, no destiny, no fate,
Can circumvent or hinder or control
The firm resolve of a determined soul.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox1850–1919“Will,” included in Maurine: And Other Poems, p. 145 (1882)
- Luck
- Motivation & Goals
It belongs to the imperfection of everything human that man can only attain his desire by passing through its opposite.
Søren Kierkegaard1813–1855The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s, 1841
- Motivation & Goals
I think my biggest achievement is that, after going through a rather difficult time, I consider myself comparatively sane.
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis1929–1994Response to Stephen Spender, on being asked what she considered her proudest accomplishment, as quoted in The Eloquent Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: A Portrait in Her Own Words (2004) by Bill Adler, p. 5, and p. 232
All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. So I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.
William Faulkner1897–1962Interview with Jean Stein, The Paris Review, No. 12 (Spring 1956)
- Failure
In fact, when we own portions of outstanding businesses with outstanding managements, our favorite holding period is forever.
Warren Buffettborn 1930Letters to Shareholders (1957—2012), 1988 Chairman’s Letter
- Business
With some notable exceptions, businessmen favor free enterprise in general but are opposed to it when it comes to themselves.
Milton Friedman1912–2006Lecture “The Suicidal Impulse of the Business Community” (1983); cited in Filters Against Folly (1985) by Garrett Hardin
- Business
It is more dangerous to be a great prophet or poet than to promote twenty companies for swindling simple folk out of their savings.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950Misalliance (1910), Preface
- Business
- Poetry