Try not to become a man of success, but rather to become a man of value. He is considered successful in our day who gets more out of life than he puts in. But a man of value will give more than he receives.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The worst bankrupt in the world is the man who has lost his enthusiasm. Let a man lose everything else in the world but his enthusiasm and he will come through again to success.
—William Howard Arnold
I was made to work. If you are equally industrious, you will be equally successful.
—Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) German Composer, Musician
Many a man has finally succeeded only because he has failed after repeated efforts. If he had never met defeat he would never have known any great victory.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1947) Austrian-American Athlete, Actor, Politician
It is from weakness that people reach for dictators and concentrated government power. Only the strong can be free. And only the productive can be strong.
—Wendell Willkie (1892–1944) American Politician, Lawyer
Seeing things as they were, not as he would wish they were, was known to be one of Washington’s salient strengths.
—David McCullough (b.1933) American Historian
Nothing is so strong as gentleness; nothing so gentle as real strength.
—Francis de Sales (1567–1622) French Catholic Saint
He had kept his head, kept his health and his strength, bearing up under a weight of work and worry that only a few could have carried.
—David McCullough (b.1933) American Historian
There’s no limit to what a man can achieve, if he doesn’t care who gets the credit.
—J. Laing Burns, Jr.
You don’t become enormously successful without encountering and overcoming a number of extremely challenging problems.
—Mark Victor Hansen (b.1948) American Public Speaker, Motivational Speaker, Writer
I’m not going to lie down and let trouble walk over me.
—Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945) American Novelist
Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Life moves on, whether we act as cowards or heroes. Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.
—Ben Stein (b.1944) American Lawyer, Writer, Economist, Humorist
There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness.
—Han Suyin (b.1917) Chinese-born Eurasian Novelist, Writer, Physician
Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do. You can’t stop the plane, you can’t stop the storm, you can’t stop time. So one might as well accept it calmly, wisely.
—Golda Meir (1898–1978) Israeli Head of State
So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
Strength alone knows conflict; weakness is below even defeat, and is born vanquished.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
When we are strong, we are always much greater than the things that happen to us.
—Thomas Merton (1915–68) American Trappist Monk
He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
Success means accomplishments as the result of our own efforts and abilities. Proper preparation is the key to our success. Our acts can be no wiser than our thoughts. Our thinking can be no wiser than our understanding.
—George Samuel Clason (1874–1957) American Businessperson, Author
Experience shows that success is due less to ability than to zeal. The winner is he who gives himself to his work, body and soul.
—Sir Thomas Buxton, 1st Baronet (1786–1845) English Politician, Social Reformer
The great successful men of the world have used their imagination…they think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building – steadily building.
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author
We live in a wondrous time in which the strong is weak because of his moral scruples and the weak grows strong because of his audacity.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister
Failure is success if we learn from it.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
All our talents increase in the using, and the every faculty, both good and bad, strengthen by exercise.
—Anne Bronte (1820–1849) English Novelist, Poet
There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
Success often comes to those who have the aptitude to see way down the road.
—J. Laing Burns, Jr.
It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
There are admirable potentialities in every human being. Believe in your strength and your youth. Learn to repeat endlessly to yourself, ‘It all depends on me’.
—Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Novelist
There is no strength in unbelief. Even the unbelief of what is false is no source of might. It is the truth shining from behind that gives the strength to disbelieve.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
Gentleness corrects whatever is offensive in our manner.
—Hugh Blair (1718–1800) Scottish Preacher, Scholar, Critic
It’s not the load that breaks you down—it’s the way you carry it.
—Lou Holtz (1893–1980) American Stage Performer
The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
—Walter Bagehot (1826–77) English Economist, Journalist
Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees.
—Douglas Malloch (1877–1938) American Poet, Short-story Writer
No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or “get rich” in business by being a conformist.
—J. Paul Getty (1892–1976) American Business Person, Art Collector, Philanthropist
O, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
We deceive ourselves when we fancy that only weakness needs support. Strength needs it far more.
—Sophie Swetchine (1782–1857) Russian Mystic, Writer
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
I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence but it comes from within. It is there all the time.
—Anna Freud (1895–1982) Austrian-British Child Psychoanalyst
The toughest thing about success is that you’ve got to keep on being a success. Talent is only a starting point in business. You’ve got to keep working that talent.
—Irving Berlin (1888–1989) American Songwriter, Composer
In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins; not through strength, but through persistence.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (b.1940) American Self-Help Author
All the strength and force of man comes from his faith in things unseen. He who believes is strong; he who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede great actions. The man strongly possessed of an idea is the master of all who are uncertain and wavering. Clear, deep, living convictions rule the world.
—James Freeman Clarke (1810–88) American Unitarian Clergyman, Abolitionist, Author
One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
—Arthur Ashe (1943–93) American Tennis Player
The weakest link in a chain is the strongest because it can break it.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
Only action gives life strength, only moderation gives it charm.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
It is sometimes the most fragile things that have the power to endure and become sources of strength.
—May Sarton (1912–95) American Children’s Books Writer, Poet, Novelist
The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
I do not think that there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.
—John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) American Oil Magnate, Philanthropist
Don’t show off every day, or you’ll stop surprising people. There must always be some novelty left over. The person who displays a little more of it each day keep up expectations, and no one ever discovers the limits of his talents.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
It is never too late to be what you might have been.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with — a man is what he makes of himself.
—Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) Scottish-born American Inventor, Engineer, Academic
The road to success is not to be run upon by seven-leagued boots. Step by step, little by little, bit by bit—that is the way to wealth, that is the way to wisdom, that is the way to glory. Pounds are the sons, not of pounds, but of pence.
—Charles Buxton (1823–71) British Politician, Writer
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.
—Vince Lombardi, Jr. (1913–70) American Football Player, Coach
Most of us seldom take the trouble to think. It is a troublesome and fatiguing process and often leads to uncomfortable conclusions. But crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.
—Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian Head of State
When a man feels throbbing within him the power to do what he undertakes as well as it can possibly be done, this is happiness, this is success.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
What does not kill me makes me stronger.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives you a 1,000 percent return on energy.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
The awareness of our own strength makes us modest.
—Paul Cezanne (1839–1906) French Painter
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.
—Rachel Carson (1907–64) American Naturalist, Science Writer
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
Go at it boldly, and you’ll find unexpected forces closing round you and coming to your aid.
—Basil King (1859–1928) Canadian Clergyman
Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it serves only to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
I think what weakens people most is fear of wasting their strength.
—Etty Hillesum (1914–43) Dutch Diarist, Holocaust Victim
Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s the determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek.
—Mario Andretti (b.1940) Italian-born American Sportsperson
There are two ways of exerting one’s strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.
—Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American Educationist
We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
You are goodness and mercy and compassion and understanding. You are peace and joy and light. You are forgiveness and patience, strength and courage, a helper in time of need, a comforter in time of sorrow, a healer in time of injury, a teacher in times of confusion. You are the deepest wisdom and the highest truth; the greatest peace and the grandest love. You are these things. And in moments of your life you have known yourself to be these things. Choose now to know yourself as these things always.
—Neale Donald Walsch (b.1943) American Spiritual Writer
Use your weaknesses; aspire to the strength.
—Laurence Olivier (1907–89) English Actor, Producer, Director
It is the nature, and the advantage, of strong people that they can bring out the crucial questions and form a clear opinion about them. The weak always have to decide between alternatives that are not their own.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–45) German Lutheran Pastor, Theologian
Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.
—Arthur Ashe (1943–93) American Tennis Player
Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.
—Conrad Hilton (1887–1979) American Business Person
That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
—Truman Capote (1924–84) American Novelist
Success doesn’t come to you — you go to it.
—Marva Collins (b.1936) American Educator
It is for us to pray not for tasks equal to our powers, but for powers equal to our tasks, to go forward with a great desire forever beating at the door of our hearts as we travel toward our distant goal.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author