Success

Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success.[i]

Every one of us, unconsciously, works out a personal philosophy of life, by which we are guided, inspired, and corrected, as time goes on. It is this philosophy by which we measure out our days, and by which we advertise to all about us the man, or woman, that we are. . . . It takes but a brief time to scent the life philosophy of anyone. It is defined in the conversation, in the look of the eye, and in the general mien of the person. It has no hiding place. It's like the perfume of the flower — unseen, but known almost instantly. It is the possession of the successful, and the happy. And it can be greatly embellished by the absorption of ideas and experiences of the useful of this earth.[ii]

Truth, self control, asceticism, generosity, non-injury, constancy in virtue — these are the means of success, not caste or family.[iii] Everybody's a self-made man; but only the successful ones are ever willing to admit it.[iv]

There's no limit to what a man can achieve, if he doesn't care who gets the credit.[v]

History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heart-breaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.[vi] The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly right.[vii] The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.[viii]

No one ever attains very eminent success by simply doing what is required of him; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of ultimate distinction.[ix] Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand.[x] 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.[xi]

The key to happiness is having dreams. The key to success is making your dreams come true.[xii]

Success in our calling is the result of a person’s love of and belief in the work he has undertaken. Earnest and conscientious labor often accomplishes more in the end than brilliant genius.[xiii] Motivation is the fuel, necessary to keep the human engine running.[xiv] Persistence gives confidence and continued right mental attitude followed by consistent action will bring success. When you have that knowing inside of you, fear has vanished and the obstruction to a life of all good removed.[xv]

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.[xvi] Unless you're willing to have a go, fail miserably, and have another go, success won't happen.[xvii]

Success often comes to those who have the aptitude to see way down the road.[xviii]

Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.[xix] Success is doing the right things, right, right now.[xx]

Success is a journey, not a destination.[xxi] The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-thing boat never gets far from shore.[xxii]

Success is not permanent. The same is also true of failure.[xxiii] In order to succeed, you must first be willing to fail.[xxiv]

Failure seems to be regarded as the one unpardonable crime, success as the all-redeeming virtue, the acquisition of wealth as the single worthy aim of life. The hair-raising revelations of skullduggery and grand-scale thievery merely incite others to surpass by yet bolder outrages and more corrupt combinations.[xxv]

If you would live your life with ease; do what you ought, not what you please.[xxvi]

Success doesn't come to you…you go to it.[xxvii]

Health, happiness and success depend upon the fighting spirit of each person. The big thing is not what happens to us in life - but what we do about what happens to us.[xxviii] 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.[xxix]

If you care at all, you’ll get some results. If you care enough, you'll get incredible results.[xxx]

No one can change another person’s beliefs. But you can be accepting of his beliefs and then slowly build an influence for the other person to change himself.[xxxi]

The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.[xxxii]

Success is not so much what we have as it is what we are.[xxxiii]

The most practical, beautiful, workable philosophy in the world won't work - if you won't.[xxxiv] Unless you change how you are, you will always have what you've got.[xxxv] We can have more than we've got because we can become more than we are.[xxxvi]

Success does not come to those who wait . . . and it does not wait for anyone to come to it.[xxxvii] Seventy percent of success in life is showing up.[xxxviii]

He who is silent is forgotten; he who does not advance falls back; he who stops is overwhelmed; out distanced, crushed; he who ceases t grow becomes smaller; he who leaves off, gives up; the condition of standing still is the beginning of the end.[xxxix] Choice, not circumstances, determines your success.[xl] Discipline yourself to do the things you need to do the things you need to do when you need to them, and the day will come when you will be able to do the things you want to do them![xli]

You cannot sit on the road to success for if you do, you will get run over.[xlii] What you get by reaching your destination is not nearly as important as what you will become by reaching your destination.[xliii]

He who does not tire, tires adversity.[xliv]

One of the commonest mistakes and one of the costliest is thinking that success is due to some genius, some magic — something or other which we do not possess. Success is generally due to holding on, and failure to letting go. You decide to learn a language, study music, take a course of reading, train yourself physically. Will it be success or failure? It depends upon how much pluck and perseverance that word “decide” contains. The decision that nothing can overrule, the grip that nothing can detach will bring success. Remember the Chinese proverb, “With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes satin.”[xlv]

The greatest form of maturity is at harvest time. That is when we must learn how to reap without complaint if the amounts are small and how to reap without apology if the amounts are big.[xlvi]

Whatever task you undertake, do it with all your heart and soul. Always be courteous, never be discouraged. Beware of him who promises something for nothing. Do not blame anybody for your mistakes and failures. Do not look for approval except the consciousness of doing your best.[xlvii] Act as though it is impossible to fail.[xlviii] Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.[xlix]

You are the only one who can use your ability. It is an awesome responsibility.[l]

The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion. . . It is the man who carefully advances step by step, with his mind becoming wider and wider — and progressively better able to grasp any theme or situation — persevering in what he knows to be practical, and concentrating his thought upon it, who is bound to succeed in the greatest degree.[li]

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[i] Thomas J. Watson

[ii] George Matthew Adams

[iii] Mahabharata

[iv] Unknown Author

[v] Laing Burns, Jr.

[vi] B.C. Forbes

[vii] Edward Simmons

[viii] Vincent T. Lombardi

[ix] Charles Kendall Adams

[x] Bruce Barton

[xi] Robert Collier

[xii] Unknown Author

[xiii] Unknown Author

[xiv] Zig Ziglar

[xv] Unknown Author

[xvi] Mario Andretti

[xvii] Phillip Adams

[xviii] Laing Burns, Jr.

[xix] Peter F. Drucker

[xx] Unknown Author

[xxi] Ben Sweetland

[xxii] Dale Carnegie

[xxiii] Dell Crossword

[xxiv] Unknown Author

[xxv] Charles Francis Adams II

[xxvi] Unknown Author

[xxvii] Marva Collins

[xxviii] George Allen

[xxix] Orison Swett Marden

[xxx] Jim Rohn

[xxxi] Unknown Author

[xxxii] Benjamin Disraeli

[xxxiii] Jim Rohn

[xxxiv] Zig Ziglar

[xxxv] Jim Rohn

[xxxvi] Jim Rohn

[xxxvii] Unknown Author

[xxxviii] Woody Allen

[xxxix] Henri Frédéric Amiel

[xl] Unknown Author

[xli] Zig Ziglar

[xlii] Unknown Author

[xliii] Zig Ziglar

[xliv] Unknown Author

[xlv] Maltbie Davenport Babcock

[xlvi] Jim Rohn

[xlvii] Bernard Mannes Baruch

[xlviii] Unknown Author

[xlix] Dr. Joyce Brothers

[l] Zig Ziglar

[li] Alexander Graham Bell