Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,159,190 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Success and failure
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“I warmly second the advice of the wisest of men—"Don't be ambitious; don't be at all too desirous to success; be loyal and modest." Cut down the proud towering thoughts that you get into you, or see they be pure as well as high. There is a nobler ambition than the gaining of all California would be, or the getting of all the suffrages that are on the planet just now.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We modest Gentlemen don't want for much success among the women.”
Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774) said by 1774 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That author, however, who has thought more than he has read, read more than he has written, and written more than he published, if he does not command success, has at least deserved it.”
Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) said by 1832 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The power of fortune is confessed only by the miserable; for the happy impute all their success to prudence or merit.”
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) said by 1745 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'Tis not in mortals to command success, But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) said by 1719 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As we live by the Muses, it is but a Gratitude in us to encourage Poetical Merit wherever we find it. The Muses, contrary to all other Ladies, pay no Distinction to Dress, and never partially mistake the Pertness of Embroidery for Wit, nor the Modesty of Want for Dulness. Be the Author who he will, we push his Play as far as it will go. So (though you are in Want) I wish you success heartily.”
John Gay (1685–1732) said by 1732 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Success is full of promise till men get it; and then it is last year's nest from which the bird has flown.”
Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887) said by 1887 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is quite clear that you are today the one person in the world who can prevent a war which may reduce humanity to the savage state. Must you pay that price for an object however worthy it may appear to you to be? Will you listen to the appeal of one who has deliberately shunned the method of war not without considerable success?”
Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter addressed to Hitler. 23 July 1939 (Collected Works, vol. 70, pp. 20–21). Available online at .
“If you have a success, you have it for the wrong reasons. If you become popular it is always because of the worst aspects of your work.”
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in That Summer in Paris (1963) by Morley Callaghan
“A good number of works owe their success to the mediocrity of their authors' ideas, which match the mediocrity of those of the general public.”
Nicolas Chamfort (1740–1794) said by 1794 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The solidarity of all progressive forces of the world towards the people of Vietnam today is similar to the bitter irony of the plebeians coaxing on the gladiators in the Roman arena. It is not a matter of wishing success to the victim of aggression, but of sharing his fate; one must accompany him to his death or to victory.”
Che Guevara (1928–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The reward of art is not fame or success but intoxication: that is why so many bad artists are unable to give it up.”
Cyril Connolly (1903–1974) first seen 1944 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cyril Connolly in The Unquiet Grave (1944; 1951), Part 2
Also quoted by: Jean Cocteau (misattributed)
“A doubtful balance is made between truth and pleasure, and... the knowledge of one and the feeling of the other stir up a combat the success of which is very uncertain, since, in order to judge of it, it would be necessary to know all that passes in the innermost spirit of the man, of which man himself is scarcely ever conscious.”
Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) said by 1662 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“With success and a literary career one becomes an unquestioning part of the mechanism, whereas the only truly important years are those in which one is unknown.”
Emil Cioran (1911–1995) said by 1995 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best augury of a man's success in his profession is that he thinks it the finest in the world.”
George Eliot (1819–1880) said by 1880 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If I die prematurely, at any rate I shall be saved from being bored by my own success.”
Samuel Butler (novelist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How noble and ennobling!—but within How mean, how poor, how pitiful, how mix'd With base alloy; how Disappointment tracks The steps of Hope; how Envy dogs success; How every victor's crown is lined with thorns, And worn mid scoffs!”
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) said by 1838 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can't sing. As a singist I am not a success. I am saddest when I sing. So are those who hear me. They are sadder even than I am.”
Artemus Ward (1834–1867) first seen 1865 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Artemus Ward, His Travels, Lecture (1865).
“He that would relish success to a good purpose should keep his passions cool, and his expectations low; and then it is possible that his fortune might exceed his fancy; for an advantage always rises by surprise, and is almost always doubled by being unlooked for.”
Jeremy Collier (1650–1726) said by 1726 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As I feel a need to speak out frankly, I cannot hide from you that I am overcome by a feeling of great care, depression, a "je ne sais quoi" of discouragement and despair more than I can tell. I take it so much to heart that I do not get on better with people in general; it quite worries me because on it depends so much my success in carrying out my work.”
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) first seen 1883 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in his letter to brother Theo, from Drenthe, The Netherlands, Autumn 1883; as quoted in Vincent van Gogh, edited by Alfred H. Barr; Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1935], (letter 328) p. 21
“You will say that I am not a success - vaincre or être vaincu, [to conquer or to be conquered], it doesn't matter to me, one has feeling and movement in any event, and they are more akin than they may seem to be or than can be put into words.”
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) said by 1890 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no such thing as success in a bad business.”
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) said by 1915 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Trust your heart, and success will come to you.”
Oprah Winfrey (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As you begin to identify the seeds of knowing along your own path, the first question to ask yourself is, What do I believe? Do you believe that you are worthy of happiness, success, abundance, fulfillment, peace, joy, and love? What I know for sure is you become what you believe.”
Oprah Winfrey (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best chess-player in Christendom may be little more than the best player of chess; but proficiency in whist implies capacity for success in all these more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) first seen 1841 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1841).
“If you want ease and success in this world, the death of a martyr, to be saved on the Day of Loss, a shade on the Day of the burning Qiyamat, and guidance on the Day of going astray, then take lessons from the Qur'an. Surely it is the word of the Merciful, a protection from the Satan, and one of the most weightiest of things for the scale of (good) deeds (on the Day of Judgement).”
Muhammad (571–632) said by 632 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You don't have to go to college to be a success … We need the people who run the offices, the people who do the hard physical work of our society.”
George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement to the students of East Los Angeles' Garfield High School (5 May 1988)
Also quoted by: 喬治·赫伯特·華克·布希 (zh)
“It’s clear, I believe, that the emphasis on the use of terror and violence in China was considerably less than in the Soviet Union and that the success was considerably greater in achieving a just society.”
Noam Chomsky (born 1928) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tell all the Truth but tell it slant – Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth's superb surpriseAs Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind –”
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) said by 1886 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not the possession of truth, but the success which attends the seeking after it, that enriches the seeker and brings happiness to him.”
Max Planck (1858–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Again and again the imaginary plan on which one attempts to build up that order breaks down and then we must try another. This imaginative vision and faith in the ultimate success are indispensable. The pure rationalist has no place here.”
Max Planck (1858–1947) said by 1947 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us not be deceived — we are today in the midst of a cold war. Our enemies are to be found abroad and at home. Let us never forget this: Our unrest is the heart of their success. The peace of the world is the hope and the goal of our political system; it is the despair and defeat of those who stand against us. We can depend only on ourselves.”
Bernard Baruch (1870–1965) first seen 1085 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the South Carolina Legislature, Columbia, SC (April 16, 1947); reported in Journal of the House of Representatives of the First Session of the 87th General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, p. 1085. Bar…
“The great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up. That is possible for him who never argues and strives with men and facts, but in all experience retires upon himself, and looks for the ultimate cause of things in himself.”
Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The world needs divine power in every human being the recognition of which is the secret to all success and happiness”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Introduction to Poems of Power 1918 edition
“Give, and thou shalt receive. Give thoughts of cheer, Of courage and success, to friend and stranger. And from a thousand sources, far and near, Strength will be sent thee in thy hour of danger.”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The only way to have real success in science, the field I'm familiar with, is to describe the evidence very carefully without regard to the way you feel it should be. If you have a theory, you must try to explain what's good and what's bad about it equally. In science, you learn a kind of standard integrity and honesty.”
Richard Feynman (1918–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength.”
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) first seen 1946 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From the book The Discovery of India (1946), Chapter 1.
“To the working men of Dundee...I press upon them the absolute necessity, as the very foundation of success in life, that they shall assume an erect position; that they shall respect their own manhood; and they will soon compel all other people to respect them”
Alexander Mackenzie (1822–1892) first seen 1875 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to Working Men of Dundee July 14, 1875 Evoking Burn's A Man's A Man For A' That - Speeches of Alexander Mackenzie during his recent visit...page 44
“Retreat is a difficult matter, especially for revolutionaries who are accustomed to advance; especially when they have been accustomed to advance with enormous success for several years; especially if they are surrounded by revolutionaries in other countries who are longing for the time when they can launch an offensive.”
Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) said by 1924 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Success, I trust — indeed have little doubt — will crown our zealous and well-meant endeavours: if not, our Country will, I believe, sooner forgive an Officer for attacking his Enemy than for letting it alone.”
Horatio Nelson (1758–1805) first seen 1777 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement regarding the attack on Bastia, Corsica (3 May 1794), as published in The Dispatches and Letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson with Notes (1845) edited by Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Vol. I: 1777-1794,…
“In the old dramas it was love that had to be sacrificed to painful duty. In the modern instance the sacrifice is at the shrine of what William James called “the Bitch Goddess, Success.” Love is to be abandoned for the stern pursuit of newspaper notoriety and dollars.”
Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He felt as he always did when he finished a book — queerly empty, let down, aware that for each little success he had paid a toll of absurdity.”
Stephen King (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Discord which appears at first to be a lamentable breach and dissolution of the unity of a party, is really the crowning proof of its success.”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) said by 1831 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You are now a famous champion, that has crowned with victory a righteous cause for which many stalwart knights and gallant gentlemen have made the supreme sacrifice, because they knew that in the end the right must conquer. Your success thus represents the working out of a great moral principle, and to explain the practical minutiae of these august processes is not always quite respectable.”
James Branch Cabell (1879–1958) said by 1958 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Slavery was the cause... [O]ur success was to be his freedom.”
William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891) first seen 1891 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman (1891), New York, pp. 2:180–81
“Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.”
Stephen Covey (1932–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. once you're above the level of 125. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.”
Warren Buffett (born 1930) first seen 1999 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Homespun Wisdom from the "Oracle of Omaha" by Amy Stone in BusinessWeek (5 June 1999)
“Warren Buffett's Top 10 Rules for Success – YouTube, uploaded by Evan Carmichael, 2015”
Warren Buffett (born 1930) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The artist who is after success lets himself be influenced by the public. Generally such an artist contributes nothing new, for the public acclaims only what it already knows, what it recognizes.”
André Gide (1869–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Come, seek, for search is the foundation of fortune: Every success depends upon focusing the heart.”
Rumi (1207–1273) said by 1273 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: III, 2302-5 (tr. Helminski, 1996)