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Success and failure
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“There were similarities between these two incidents. The similarity was too much success … over-confidence and complacency, quite frankly.”
Alan Shepard (1923–1998) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Discussing the 1967 Apollo 1 fire and 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster incidents — reported in the Deseret News staff (May 7, 1995) "Even Cosmos Is Aghast at Size of Earthly Egos", the Deseret News, p. A2.
“One can make the argument that the success of the Shepard flight enabled the decision to go to the moon.”
Alan Shepard (1923–1998) first seen 1923 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: John Logsdon — reported in John Noble Wilford, The New York Times (July 23, 1998) "Alan Shepard 1923-1998 One of 7 Original Astronauts, He was First American in Space", The Plain Dealer, p. 1A.
“I wish I could write a book that will be read for as long as our civilization lasts... I would value it much more highly than any business success if I could contribute to an understanding of the world in which we live or, better yet, if I could help to preserve the economic and political system that has allowed me to flourish as a participant.”
George Soros (born 1930) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett & George Soros (2006) by Mark Tier, p. 219
“I think I deserve this (honorary) law degree just because I have been sued so much . . . For those of you heading out into the world -- don't be scared, getting sued is the first sign of success. As long as you didn't do anything wrong -- don't worry about it. It's just part of this great country.”
Gloria Estefan (born 1957) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: speech after award of honorary law degree from Barry University (Miami, Florida) (22 May 2002)
“Our life consists not in the pursuit of material success but in the quest for worthy spiritual growth. Our entire earthly existence is but a transitional stage in the movement toward something higher, and we must not stumble and fall, nor must we linger fruitlessly on one rung of the ladder.”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I myself am nearly half Ukrainian. I grew up with the sounds of Ukrainian speech. I love her culture and genuinely wish all kinds of success for Ukraine--but only within her real ethnic boundaries, without grabbing Russian provinces. ...”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In short, the success of macroeconomic activism, in both theory and practice, has made it possible for free market microeconomics to survive--again both in theory and in practice.”
Paul Krugman (born 1953) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Is the Economic Crisis a Crisis for Economics?", Slate (Nov. 13, 1998)
“As the example of Ronald Reagan shows, real political success comes not simply from appealing to the interests that people currently perceive but from finding ways to redefine their perceived interests, to harness their discontent in favor of changes that you can lead.”
Paul Krugman (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Purpose of counter-intelligence action is to disrupt [Black Panther Party] and it is immaterial whether facts exist to substantiate the charge. If facts are present it aids in the success of the proposal but the Bureau feels … that disruption can be accomplished without facts to back it up.”
J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Memo (16 Sept. 1970).
“With each success the ability to change is reduced. My longtime friend and coach Grandmaster Yuri Dokhoian, aptly compared it to being dipped in bronze. Each victory added another coat.”
Garry Kasparov (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bush Administration was a success.”
Garry Kasparov (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Because I know that as successful as I believe we will be, and I believe that the success [in Iraq] will be fairly easy, we will still lose some American young men or women. And that's a great tragedy.”
John McCain (1936–2018) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Appearance on Larry King Live, (24 September 2002)
“We're no longer staring into the abyss of defeat and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success.”
John McCain (1936–2018) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: During General David Petraeus’ testimony before Congress on the military “surge” strategy in Iraq. 8 April 2008
“People don't need love. What they need is success in one form or another. It can be love but it needn't be.”
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“there were these people on the ground, they were reaching up their arms and trying to pull me down but they couldn't do it. I felt like pissing on them. they were so jealous. all they had to do was to work their way slowly up to it as I had done. such people think success grows on trees. you and I, we know better.”
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Solitude is greater than I anticipated. My sense of values is changing, and many things which before were in solution in my mind now seem to be crystallizing. I am better able to tell what in the world is wheat for me and what is chaff. In fact, my definition of success itself is changing.”
Richard E. Byrd (1888–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I love America. I love our freedom. And nowhere could a guy like me, a schlub like me have success with -- where would I get this freedom of speech? They don't allow this anywhere.”
Howard Stern (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All I had to do was do [stand-up] once, and I didn't-- Really, success wasn't my objective; it was just "I wanna be one of those guys!" If I can be one of those guys, I'm-- I win everything!”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It really is funny, it's very easy for me to remember that [Seinfeld] was very unsuccessful for a number of years, the first 4 years, and I remember thinking "I don't know why people don't seem to like this, it seems so funny to me." But I never thought it was going to be a big success. But it worked out.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Action is the foundational key to all success.”
Anthony Robbins (born 1960) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Stack the Logs! : Building a Success Framework to Reach Your Dreams (2003) by Frank F. Lunn, p. 45
“Success to your meetings. Future of this country depends on breaking up the land monopoly—it withers the land, depresses wages, destroys independence, and drives millions into dwellings which poison their strength. Godspeed to every effort to put an end to this oppression.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Telegram to a national conference to promote the taxation and rating of land held in Cardiff (13 October 1913), quoted in The Times (14 October 1913), p. 10
“I appeal that these proposals should be examined, and, if found to be wise, adopted and carried out in that spirit of high and fearless patriotism and resolution which lifted this nation to such heights of endeavour and success but seven years ago.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) first seen 1925 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Killerton Park, near Exeter, opening the Liberal land campaign (17 September 1925), quoted in The Times (18 September 1925), p. 14
“If success was achieved on the Italian Front, I believed that victory in the War was assured. A separate peace with Austria would then be practicable, and having eliminated Austria from the War, Germany would be at our mercy.”
David Lloyd George (1863–1945) first seen 1302 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Volume II, p. 1302
“One who has drunk at the fountain of spiritual happiness says good-by of his own accord to the satisfactions that come from a higher professional status … What is the greatest sign of success for a teacher thus transformed? It is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist.”
Maria Montessori (1870–1952) said by 1952 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It took Ireland thirty years to become an overnight success.”
Bertie Ahern (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?”
Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On his election to Académie Française (1955) Variant translation: Of course I believe in luck. How else does one explain the successes of one's enemies?
“People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves they have the first secret of success.”
Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Positive Thinking Every Day : An Inspiration for Each Day of the Year (1993), "April 13
“I am made, crudely, for success.”
Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) first seen 1958 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (April 22, 1958)
“How can they say my life is not a success? Have I not for more than sixty years got enough to eat and escaped being eaten?”
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Few things are more shocking to those who practice the arts of success than the frank description of those arts.”
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) said by 1946 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than the last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken. . . .”
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In a free-market economy, the consumer is king: labor unions don't run things, business people don't run things, bankers don't run things, politicians don't run things, but the success of a business depends on how people spend their money.”
Ron Paul (born 1935) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In response to the question "What is your opinion on direct democracy, where the citizens themselves make law, rather than elected representatives?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-nfaTZNWcI (May 14, 2015)
“In the hour of its greatest success, Europe seems to have become empty inside, paralyzed by a life-threatening crisis to its health and dependent on transplants.”
Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Values in Times of Upheaval (2005)
“A life of action, if it is to be useful, must be a life of compromise. But speculation admits of no compromise. A public-man is often under the necessity of consenting to measures which he dislikes, lest he should endanger the success of measures which he thinks of vital importance.”
Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) first seen 1833 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'War of the Succession in Spain', The Edinburgh Review (January 1833); in Critical and Historical Essays Contributed to The Edinburgh Review, Vol. II (1843), p. 91
“'The operation was a success, but the patient died.' What such a procedure is to medicine, the Court's opinion in this case is to law.”
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley, 524 U.S. 569 (1998) (Scalia, concurring).
“In the 1970's and 1980's vaccines became, one might say, victims of their own success. They had been so effective in preventing infectious diseases that the public became much less alarmed at the threat of those diseases, and much more concerned with the risk of injury from the vaccines themselves.”
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, 562 U.S. 223 (2011), 226.
“Success is the necessary misfortune of life, but it is only to the very unfortunate that it comes early.”
Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He don't look the sort of fellow I like; but he's got money and he comes here, and he's good looking, — and therefore he'll be a success.”
Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Not even the largest party can 'make' or 'steal' a revolution, but the success of such an endeavor depends on the ability, lucidity, energy and single-mindedness of a revolutionary party when confronted with a prerevolutionary crisis.”
“But only gradually have I learned that such ultimate successes are not what the present-day authorities in Britain really want. What really delights them is extreme tidiness combined with a façade of everyday competence. This of course is why Britain plunges further and further downhill with every passing year. The truth is the opposite: it is the ultimate success that really counts.”
Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is no conflict in the absolute universe, but there is conflict in the relative world. If we unify our mind and body become one with the universe, others will follow us gladly. Do not say that this is a world where we must struggle to live each day. The true way to success is exactly one and the same as the principle of non-dissension, and that is the way of peace.”
Koichi Tohei (1920–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Instructors must always be positive. Even if someone fails at something, you must have the energy to help them turn it into success. When teaching, always compare the correct way with the incorrect way, side by side. Then the reasons for the correct way become obvious. You must know both.”
Koichi Tohei (1920–2011) said by 2011 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation.”
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Desire is the ingredient that changes the hot water of mediocrity to the steam of outstanding success.”
Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) said by 2012 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are being asked to sell the banner which has flown in Scotland with great success, a banner which is showing no sign of becoming unpopular.”
George Galloway (born 1954) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to a meeting of the Labour Party in Inverness (10 March 1995), quoted in The Times (11 March 1995) p. 8.
“My practice as a scientist is atheistic. That is to say, when I set up an experiment I assume that no god, angel, or devil is going to interfere with its course; and this assumption has been justified by such success as I have achieved in my professional career. I should therefore be intellectually dishonest if I were not also atheistic in the affairs of the world.”
J. B. S. Haldane (1892–1964) first seen 1934 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Fact and Faith (1934) Preface
“It is a sobering fact...that the method of massive chemical control has had only limited success, and also threatens to worsen the very conditions it is intended to curb.”
Rachel Carson (1907–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here I am, in Quaker surroundings, whose restful simplicity is most congenial to me. I feel here the earnest desire for genuine growth and culture which founds a slow but sure success. I am confirmed in my division of human energies. Ambitious people climb, but faithful people build.”
Julia Ward Howe (1819–1910) first seen 1874 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 7 June 1874
“That the snipers managed to pick off five terrorists in pitch darkness attested to their superior marksmanship, but in law enforcement, unlike war, success is never measured by the number of adversaries killed. All that counts is lives saved, and the Germans scored zero.”
Danny Coulson (born 1941) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Note: About the 1972 Olympic hostage situation,
“The forebears of the Punjas, Motibhais, Vinod Patels and other large businesses took several generations to reach their present elevated state and a great deal of self-denial and self-exploitation was involved along the way. There is no short cut to success - for Fijians and others alike.”
Vijay R. Singh (1931–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source