What does success mean to you?
We all have different and unique ways to define what success means.
Yet, in essence, you and I are searching for the best life possible.
Quotes on success — what it means and how to achieve it — can help you focus on what you want, why you want it, and what next steps you will take to get it.
Here are 74 quotes that I’ve collected over the last five years that may help you define — and achieve — you own success.
When you find one or more that particularly have meaning for you, go ahead and highlight them.
Write them down and keep them nearby to remind yourself of where you intend to go and why you’re heading that way.
Let us know which one has the most meaning for you.
Sit back and allow these thoughts help shape your world.
“The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.” — Mark Caine, American Writer
“Think it… dream it… wish it… and then goddamn it, act on it.” — Ivan Throne, Dark Triad Man
“Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value.” — Jim Rohn
“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” — Johnny Cash
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience.” — Henry Miller
“Without the strength to endure the crisis, one will not see the opportunity within. It is within the process of endurance that opportunity reveals itself.” — Chin-Ning Chu
“Every next level of your life will demand a different you.” — Leonardo DiCaprio
“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.” — T. E. Lawrence
“Action expresses priorities.” — Mahatma Gandhi
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” — Stephen Covey
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” — Audrey Hepburn
“Many an optimist has become rich by buying out a pessimist.” — Robert G. Allen
“Time management is an oxymoron. Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives. Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have.” — John C. Maxwell
“Nurture your mind with great thoughts, for you will never go any higher than you think.”― Benjamin Disraeli
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
“You are remembered for the rules you break.” — Douglas MacArthur
“Every man is a creative cause of what happens, a premium mobile with an original movement.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
“Adam Smith pointed out that there were three things that make us more prosperous, in a general sort of way: freedom to pursue our own self-interest; specialization, which he called division of labor; and freedom of trade.” — P. J. O’Rourke
“The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.” — Martina Navratilova
“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” — Walt Disney
“The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.” — Thomas Paine
“If everybody is doing it one way, there’s a good chance you can find your niche by going exactly in the opposite direction.” — Sam Walton
“You have to really be courageous about your instincts and your ideas. Otherwise you’ll just knuckle under, and things that might have been memorable will be lost.” — Francis Ford Coppola
“In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.” — Tom Bodett
“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” — Dolly Parton
“Learn to value yourself, which means: to fight for your happiness.” — Ayn Rand
“Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats.” — Og Mandino
“There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that which is lost by not trying.” — Francis Bacon
“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth — Not going all the way, and not starting.”– Buddha
“Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.” — Victor Hugo
“Opportunity does not knock; it presents itself when you beat down the door.” — Kyle Chandler
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” — Mark Twain
“Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.” — Robert A. Heinlein
“A tactical retreat is not a bad response to a surprise assault, you know. First you survive. Then you choose your own ground. Then you counterattack.” — Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign, 1999
“You sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” — J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
“To be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.” — Bette Davis: American actress of film, television and theater.
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” — Stephen Covey
“The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity; moving beyond it necessitates intuition, which in turn configures new perspectives and conquers fears.” — Dan Stevens
“Money is Coined Liberty” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky
“It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.” — Jim Rohn
“A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere.” — Joyce Meyer: Christian author and speaker
“As long as you are going to be thinking anyway, think big.” — Donald Trump
“Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.” — Plutarch (46 AD — 120 AD), Lives
“Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!” — Fyodor Dostoevsky
“Be bold, and mighty forces will come to you.” — Othello
“Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.” — Arnold H. Glasow
“Before we set our hearts too much on anything, let us examine how happy are those who already possess it.” — Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld
“Don’t be afraid to take a big step. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.” -David Lloyd George, British prime minister (1863–1945)
“We’re here to put a dent in the universe.” — Steve Jobs
“You live in a sea of knowledge. The better you swim, the further you get.” — Ken West
“One secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” — Benjamin Disraeli
“The man who moved a mountain was the one who began carrying away small stones.” — Chinese Proverb
“The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else — we are the busiest people in the world.” — Eric Hoffer, Author, Philosopher, Teacher
“Life is short — eat well — dress well and be good to your neighbors and family.” — Anonymous
“The secret to success is to know something nobody else does.” — Aristotle
“The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it; so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it.” — Elbert Hubbard
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” — Steve Jobs
“Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you.” — Jim Rohn: American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker
“Failure is success if we learn from it.” — Malcolm Forbes
“The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career!” — Earl Nightingale
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” — Steve Jobs
“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” — Jack Welch
“If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” — Bruce Lee
“There is only one success — to be able to spend your life in your own way.” — Christopher Morley
“Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” — Wayne Gretzky: called the greatest hockey player ever by sportswriters, players, and the NHL
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.” — J. K. Rowling
“Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new.” — Bob Parsons: American entrepreneur and founder of GoDaddy.com
“Success is the culmination of failures, mistakes, false starts, confusion, and the determination to keep going anyway.” — Nick Gleason, Founder of CitySoft
“The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year.” — John Foster Dulles
“To succeed in life, you need three things: A wishbone, a backbone, and a funnybone.” — Reba McEntire: American country music singer, songwriter and actress
“There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.” — Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill
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I hope you enjoyed these quotes, and found a few that resonate with you.
Meanwhile, how can you accelerate your passion, purpose, and talents?
That’s our focus.
