Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Success and failure
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“For me this career and that I am privileged to do a job I love to do, means really, really much. I would never change any moment from my life. When making music I sink myself into the process as deeply as I can and forget all of the success.”
“I could have been more famous if I did all the glitzy things, but celebrity always seemed so unnecessary ... Fame and success are very different things, anyway. The music sold itself before anybody knew who I was, so I felt I had a choice. I told the record company I didn't feel the need to be out there at red-carpet events. I wanted a career. But I wanted to keep myself intact as a person.”
“If poetry were nothing but texture, [Dylan] Thomas would be as good as any poet alive. The what of his poems is hardly essential to their success, and the best and most brilliantly written pieces usually say less than the worst.”
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We're knocking on the door of success.”
Phil Brown (footballer) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 5-Oct-2005, DCFC website
“If there were a generic one-word expression for 'one whose fear of the uncertainties of success moves him to surrender at the very moment of victory', it would be 'Republican'.”
L. Neil Smith (1946–2021) said by 2021 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Israel is the Middle East’s only legitimate democracy, surrounded by cadres, warlords and villains that do not respect democracy or human rights. These bellicose nations jealously regard Israel, envying its success, stability, and might. Israel faces an impossible calculus between defending itself and facing angry outcries or risking its own destruction.”
Stephen Harper (born 1959) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stephen Harper, as quoted in "We Must Support Democracy in the Middle East" (31 January 2014), The Barrie Examiner.
“It is excellent for a man to be simple in his tastes, to avoid extravagance, to own no possessions, to entertain no craving for worldly success.”
Yoshida Kenkō (1283–1350) said by 1350 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 18 (tr. Keene, 1967)
“Yes, we all know the famous saying: where there’s smoke, there’s success.”
Stephen Colbert (born 1964) first seen 2023 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Stephen Colbert on Biden’s Kyiv visit: ‘Like your dad meeting your boyfriend’ (Last modified on Tue 21 Feb 2023 18.30 GMT)
“I've had different opportunities in my life, but I've tried to maintain the spirit of an amateur. Our culture roots everything in the barometer of success and how much money you make. But if you really just aspire to a life in the arts, it's really not a barometer at all.”
Ethan Hawke (born 1970) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: New York Daily News (2000-05-11)
“It is not the destiny of Black america to repeat white america’s mistakes. But we will, if we mistake the trappings of success in a sick society for the signs of a meaningful life.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When seagull droppings landed on my head at a campaign event at Bowers Beach two days before Election Day, I chose to read it as a sign of a coming success.”
“Look, I don’t want to punish anyone’s success, but the wealthy have been getting a free ride at the expense of the middle class for too long.”
“Actually, I was having dinner with Michael (Stipe, of R.E.M.) when our second album went platinum, which up until that point was the highest success we'd ever had. And he turned to me during dinner and said, 'Welcome to the deep waters, kid.' I'll never forget that.”
Billy Corgan (born 1967) first seen 1998 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Icon Magazine. April 1998.
“I don’t care for success. The ideas sitting in my head are annoyed by, and envious of, that which I’ve already written.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) first seen 1888 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to A.S. Suvorin (October 27, 1888)
“The success of the middle class alliance depended on the acceptance by the working class element of middle class leadership and middle class ideas.”
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–1963) first seen 1929 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Chartism: An Introductory Essay (1929), p. 85
“People have success with this method and it gets them excited. It gets them hooked. You can put layers of thick paint on thin paint and that allows you to complete a painting in one sitting.”
Bob Ross (1942–1995) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Mike Flannagan (October 1, 1992) "TV Artist Bob Ross Watches Paint Dry, Turns It Into a Successful Career", The Knoxville News-Sentinel, p. B1.
“The key to success is to risk thinking unconventional thoughts. Convention is the enemy of progress. As long as you've got slightly more perception that the average wrapped loaf, you could invent something.”
Trevor Baylis (1937–2018) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cited in: Daniel H. Pink (2006), A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. p. 137
“The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn of him and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good.”
James Allen (1864–1912) said by 1912 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is about... making a success of membership of the EU but also with democratic consent for that in its modern form and the best form that we can bring about.”
William Hague (born 1961) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'Strong case' for EU referendum, says Hague" BBC News (20 January 2013).
“An individual's self-concept is the core of his personality. It affects every aspect of human behavior: the ability to learn, the capacity to grow and change. A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success in life.”
Joyce Brothers (1927–2013) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) by Larry Chang, p. 43
“Those who have easy, cheerful attitudes tend to be happier than those with less pleasant temperaments, regardless of money, "making it", or success.”
Joyce Brothers (1927–2013) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) by Larry Chang, p. 71
“My memory...is of a department without direction, composed of a lot of busy people working hard and usefully but as a whole not functioning as a foreign office. It did not chart a course to be furthered by the success of our arms, or to aid or guide our arms. Rather it seems to have been adrift carried hither and yon by the currents of war or pushed about by collisions with more purposeful craft.”
Dean Acheson (1893–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The simple truth is that perseverance in good policies is the only avenue to success...”
Dean Acheson (1893–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us celebrate the soil. Most men toil that they may own a piece of it; they measure their success in life by their ability to buy it.”
Charles Dudley Warner (1829–1900) said by 1900 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Success depends on three things: who says it, what he says, how he says it; and of these three things, what he says is the least important.”
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) said by 1923 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can now, if you choose, employ your present success to advantage, so as to keep what you have got and gain honour and reputation besides, and you can avoid the mistake of those who meet with an extraordinary piece of good fortune, and are led on by hope to grasp continually at something further, through having already succeeded without expecting it.”
Thucydides (461–395 BC) said by 395 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you come to analyze the love of money which was the general impulse to effort in your day, you find that the dread of want and desire of luxury was but one of several motives which the pursuit of money represented; the others, and with many the more influential, being desire of power, of social position, and reputation for ability and success.”
Edward Bellamy (1850–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In truth, I am nothing but a plodding mediocrity — please observe, a plodding mediocrity — for a mere mediocrity does not go very far, but a plodding one gets quite a distance. There is joy in that success, and a distinction can come from courage, fidelity and industry.”
Benjamin N. Cardozo (1870–1938) first seen 1936 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Nine Old Men (1936) by Drew Pearson and Robert Sharon Allen, p. 221.
“We do not hate, nor grieve, nor joy, nor despair in our thirties like we did in our teens. Disappointment does not suggest suicide, and we quaff success without intoxication.”
Jerome K. Jerome (1859–1927) said by 1927 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success.”
Isoroku Yamamoto (1884–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement to Japanese cabinet minister Shigeharu Matsumoto and Japanese prime minister Fumimaro Konoe, as quoted in Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan (1985) by Ronald Spector. This remark would later pr…
“Above all, money-making and other external indices of social success must become subordinate to the inner attainments of moral and intellectual virtue.”
Mortimer Adler (1902–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Great books are great teachers; they are showing us every day what ordinary people are capable of. These books come out of ignorant, inquiring humanity. They are usually the first announcements for success in learning. Most of them were written for, and addressed to, ordinary people.”
Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The policy that we have been pursuing has already brought economic success. This country is now experiencing an economic miracle, comparable in significance to that previously enjoyed by West Germany and still enjoyed by Japan.”
Nigel Lawson (1932–2023) first seen 1988 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in the House of Commons (21 March 1988)
“Art is not like other culture because its success is not made by its audience. The public fill concert halls and cinemas everyday, we read novels by the millions, and buy records by the billions. 'We the people' affect the making and quality of most of our culture, but not our art.”
“The Art we look at is made by only a select few. A small group create, promote, purchase, exhibit and decide the success of Art. Only a few hundred people in the world have any real say. When you go to an Art gallery you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires...”
“I try to solve my problems by writing music and recording albums, but you know what's really funny about that? Once the album becomes a success, it doesn't solve your problems. It just gets harder to write the next album.”
Chris Cornell (1964–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I used to work in jobs I hated because I needed the money to buy a guitar. I know what it feels like to be depressed. On the other hand, I also know what it feels like to have money, to be successful, to be independent, but I can tell you that money and success never solve your problems.”
Chris Cornell (1964–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the industrial economy success was self-limiting; it obeyed the law of decreasing returns.”
Kevin Kelly (editor) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She said I was afraid of success, which may in fact be true, because I have a feeling that fufilling my potential would really cut into my sittin' around time.”
Maria Bamford (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Recalling George H. W. Bush's Secretary of State James Baker:] [T]he best secretary of state since Dean Acheson. I say that because he and Bush 41 had an incredibly tempestuous period in history, and they navigated through it with great success.”
John R. Bolton (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some argue that our success is short-lived and temporary. So, we now need to make efforts to constantly expand the player base by offering services and titles that can appeal, not only to those who have never played games, but also to those who play them hard.”
Satoru Iwata (1959–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We already had success in creating a democratic, national government that is revolutionary and popular. That is how socialism begins, not with decrees.”
Salvador Allende (1908–1973) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Conversations With Allende (1970) by Regis Debray
“He's out of order, disconnected with reality and disrespectful. When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent.”
Arsène Wenger (born 1949) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On José Mourinho, (November 2005)
“For, without cruelty, only a limited success is ever possible in opera.”
R. A. Lafferty (1914–2002) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Selenium Ghosts of the Eighteen Seventies (1978), in Terry Carr (ed.), The Year's Finest Fantasy: Volume 2, p. 233 (originally published in Universe 8)
“It's nothing to do with us at all, our success is due to the taste of the public.”
Bon Scott (1946–1980) first seen 1976 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Countdown interview, Mascot Airport, Sydney, April 1976.
“A primary reason for my success in the classroom was that I couldn’t forget that schooling was changing me and separating me from the life I enjoyed before becoming a student.”
Richard Rodriguez (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Imagine what $1.57 trillion in cash and 7.9 billion hours of service could have done to solve some of the most pressing issues today. We may not achieve an immediate unalloyed success without a few bumps along the way, but the successful Moon landing was preceded by many failures.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Moon landing was a huge challenge that was solved by human perseverance and ingenuity, in spite of the mere 50% chance of success according to American astronaut Neil Armstrong. Imagine what else we can accomplish if America and the whole world is determined to eradicate wars, diseases, pollutions, global warming, poverty, homelessness, world hunger, and other human sufferings.”
Newton Lee wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the prayer of faith there is a divine science; it is a science that everyone who would make his lifework a success must understand.”
Ellen G. White (1827–1915) first seen 1903 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Education (1903), Ch. 30, Faith and Prayer, p. 257
“Let me beg my readers to do their utmost for the success of the Peace Ballot. There is no single thing which they can do of greater value for Peace. … Every vote is wanted and may contribute to prevent war and save the lives of countless thousands of our fellow citizens.”
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood (1864–1958) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Avoidable War : Lord Cecil and the Policy of Principle, 1933-1935 (1999) by J. Kenneth Brody, Ch. 11 : Voting For Peace, p. 173