I know the price of success: dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Courage has genius, power, and magic in it. Only engage, and then the mind grows heated. Begin it and the work is completed.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows.
—Aristotle Onassis (1906–75) Argentine-Greek Shipping Magnate
The opportunity is often lost by deliberating.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Action is the antidote to despair.
—Joan Baez (b.1941) American Singer, Songwriter, Musician
Who hesitate and falter life away, and lose tomorrow the ground won today.
—Matthew Arnold (1822–88) English Poet, Critic
Now or never was the time.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
The greatest secret of success in life is for a person to be ready when their opportunity comes.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
Common sense does not ask an impossible chessboard, but takes the one before it and plays the game.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Lawyer, Orator
Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Who waits until the wind shall silent keep will never find the ready hour to sow.
—Helen Hunt Jackson (1830–85) American Novelist, Civil Rights Activist
One starts an action simply because one must do something.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it. The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who also knows why will always be his boss. As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
When I am idle and shiftless, my affairs become confused; when I work, I get results… not great results, but enough to encourage me.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
The way to do is to be.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
The very first step towards success in any occupation is to become interested in it.
—William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian Physician
Thirteen virtues necessary for true success: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
We don’t have enough time to premeditate all our actions.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
There are no secrets to success: don’t waste time looking for them. Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty to those for whom you work, and persistence.
—Colin Powell (1937–2021) American Military Leader
All glory comes from daring to begin.
—Eugene F. Ware
I studied the lives of great men and famous women; and I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
If a man would move the world, he must first move himself.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Put your heart, mind, intellect, and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.
—Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963) Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher
It is in your act that you exist, not in your body. Your act is yourself, and there is no other you.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900–44) French Novelist, Aviator
Imposing limitations on yourself is cowardly because it protects you from having to try, and perhaps failing.
—Vladimir K. Zworykin (1889–1982) Russian-born American Physicist, Television Pioneer
Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–45) German Lutheran Pastor, Theologian
It is only when I daily with what I am about, look back and aside instead of keeping my eyes straight forward, that I feel these cold sinkings of the heart. But the first broadside puts all to rights.
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
How, then, find the courage for action? By slipping a little into unconsciousness, spontaneity, instinct which holds one to the earth and dictates the relatively good and useful … By accepting the human condition more simply, and candidly, by dreading troubles less, calculating less, hoping more.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic