Table of Contents
Introduction (3)
Character (4)
Integrity (7)
Leadership and Influence (10)
Balanced Life (13)
Vision (16)
Desire (19)
Dreams (22)
Skill and Talent (25)
Attitude (28)
Support from Others (31)
Personal Growth and Learning (34)
Hard Work (37)
Passion (40)
Perseverance (43)
Enthusiastic (46)
Motivation (49)
Courage (52)
Humility (55)
Excellence (58)
Action (61)
About Me, Further Reading, and Legal Page (64)
Introduction
I love quotes! Apparently my readers do as well. Every time I feature a blog post with only
quotes that pertain to a topic related to leadership, those posts have historically received some of
the highest viewings. Knowing the positive impact quotes have on a person’s life is the primary
reason why I wanted to put together this collection of quotes on the topic of success.
Success is something most people want. Success is different to different people. It may mean
reaching monumental levels of public fame, achieving personal goals and dreams, or positively
influencing those in your life. Success may mean being a successful spouse, parent, friend,
leader, or business owner. No matter how you define success in your life, the quotes in this book
will provide foundational elements that will inspire you toward your desired level of success and
position you for lasting success.
Before you go through the 20 quote topics, I highly recommend reading a blog post I wrote
which is posted on my website danblackonleadership.com titled: How to use Quotes (Click the
title to read it). The post will give you practical ways to immediately use and implement the
quotes you read. I also encourage you to read, memorize, file, and keep these quotes close by.
Reading and reflecting on the quotes from this book can:
• Motivate you to keep moving toward your desired areas of success
• Lift you up when you’re feeling down or want to quit
• Spark creativity and provoke new ideas
• Bring positive change into your life
• Inspire you to be a better person
• Help you advance toward the success you desire
The words of Benjamin Disraeli paint accurately the importance of quotes, “The wisdom of the
wise and experience of ages may be preserved by quotations.”
I hope you enjoy these quotes as much as I have. Thank you,
Dan Black
Character
“Character is the real foundation of all worthwhile success.” ~John Hays
Hammond
“Every man has three characters—that which he exhibits, that which he has, and
that which he thinks he has.” ~Alphonse Karr
“Character develops itself in the stream of life.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This
is how character is built.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt
“Personality can open doors, but only character can keep them open.” ~Elmer G.
Letterman
“Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized
as that of character.” ~Henry Clay
“You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans.”
~Ronald Reagan
“Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some
turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.” ~Sam Ewing
“People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession
of character.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when
character is lost, all is lost.” ~Billy Graham
“It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.” ~Alfred Adler
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think
of it; the tree is the real thing.” ~Abraham Lincoln
“One can acquire everything in solitude except character.” ~Stendhal
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your
character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think
you are.” ~John Wooden
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial
and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success
achieved.” ~Helen Keller
“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with
important matters” ~Albert Einstein
“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.” ~Thomas Jefferson
“Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent,
often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.” ~Stephen
Covey
“Character is made in the small moments of our lives.” ~Philip Brooks
“A man without decision of character can never be said to belong to himself... He
belongs to whatever can make captive of him.” ~John Foster
“If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.” ~ D.L.
Moody
“Dreams are the touchstones of our character.” ~Henry David Thoreau
“Character is higher than intellect.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Character is power; it makes friends, draws patronage and support and opens the
way to wealth, honor and happiness.” ~David Howe
“Character is destiny.” ~Heraclitus
“You can not dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself
one.” ~James Froude
“Character is the firm foundation stone upon which one must build to win respect.
Just as no worthy building can be erected on a weak foundation, so no lasting
reputation worthy of respect can be built on a weak character.” ~R. C. Samsel
“Character is the indelible mark that determines the only true value of all people
and all their work.” ~Orison Marden
“Character is much easier kept than recovered.” ~Thomas Paine
“No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character.” ~John
Morley
“Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are to
some extent a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build
it piece by piece—by thought, choice, courage and determination.” ~John Luther
“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” ~Mark
Twain
Integrity “We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by
what we have already done.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral
courage so rare.” ~Mark Twain
“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town
gossip.” ~Will Rogers
“Honesty and integrity are absolutely essential for success in life - all areas of life.
The really good news is that anyone can develop both honesty and integrity.” ~Zig
Ziglar
“Perhaps the surest test of an individual's integrity is his refusal to do or say
anything that would damage his self-respect.” ~Thomas S. Monson
“Honor your commitments with integrity.” ~Les Brown
“Integrity means that you are the same in public as you are in private.” ~Joyce
Meyer
“A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.” ~Baltasar Gracian
“I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.”
~Abraham Lincoln
“Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains to bring it to light.” ~George
Washington
“Integrity is the essence of everything successful.” ~Buckminster Fuller
“It's easy to maintain your integrity when no one is offering to buy it out.” ~Marc
Maron
“You are in integrity when the life you are living on the outside matches who you
are on the inside.” ~Alan Cohen
“The high road is always respected. Honesty and integrity are always rewarded.”
~Scott Hamilton
“Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know
whether you did it or not.” ~Oprah Winfrey
“Your reputation and integrity are everything. Follow through on what you say
you’re going to do. Your credibility can only be built over time, and it is built from
the history of your words and actions.” ~Maria Razumich-Zec
“If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.” ~ Mark Twain
“Calamity is the test of integrity.” ~Samuel Richardson
“It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong.”
~Henry Wadsworth
“Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think
of you.” ~Jackson Brown, Jr.
“The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity,
faith, love and loyalty.” ~Zig Ziglar
“To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured
with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.” ~Douglas Adams
“You must consider the bottom line, but make it integrity before profits.” ~Denis
Waitley
“The integrity of men is to be measured by their conduct, not by their professions.”
~Junius
“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity
and his ability to affect those around him positively.” ~Bob Marley
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the
courage to do what we know is morally right.” ~Ronald Reagan
“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity
is dangerous and dreadful.” ~Samuel Johnson
“Don't measure your neighbor's honesty by your own.” ~American Proverb
“If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the
other virtues would be well-nigh useless.” ~Moliere
“Keep true, never be ashamed of doing right, and decide on what you think is right
and stick to it.” ~George Eliot
“Your reputation and integrity are everything. Follow through on what you say
you’re going to do. Your credibility can only be built over time, and it is built from
the history of your words and actions.” ~Maria Razumich-Zec
Leadership and Influence
“Leadership is influence.” ~John C. Maxwell
“You don’t need a title to be a leader.” ~Multiple Attributions
“The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic
factor to leadership. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made
rather than born.” ~Warren Bennis
“Become the kind of leader that people would follow voluntarily; even if you had
no title or position.” ~Brian Tracy
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his
aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.” ~Lao Tzu
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” ~John F. Kennedy
“A leader is a dealer in hope.” ~Napoleon Bonaparte
“Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no
leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders
seize the opportunity to change things for the better.” ~Harry S. Truman
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you.
In between, the leader is a servant.” ~Max DePree
“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become
a leader, success is all about growing others.” ~Jack Welch
“My own definition of leadership is this: The capacity and the will to rally men and
women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.”
~General Montgomery
“You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by
going to that place and making a case.” ~Ken Kesey
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” ~John C.
Maxwell
“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only
means.” ~Albert Einstein
“The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” ~Ken
Blanchard
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.” ~Albert
Schweitzer
“The influential man is the successful man, whether he be rich or poor.” ~Orison
Marden
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become
more, you are a leader.” ~John Adams
“Influence doesn’t come to us instantaneously. It grows by stages.” ~John Maxwell
“You don't have to be a "person of influence" to be influential. In fact, the most
influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they've
taught me.” ~Scott Adams
“Once you've found your own voice, the choice to expand your influence, to
increase your contribution.” ~Stephen Covey
“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only
means.” ~Albert Einstein
“The only inheritance that a man will leave that has eternal value is his influence.”
~Larry Dobbs
“The way you think, the way you behave, the way you eat, can influence your life
by 30 to 50 years.” ~Deepak Chopra
“It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over
other people's lives.” ~Clint Eastwood
“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the
seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.” ~Napoleon Hill
“Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.” ~George
Eliot
“There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and
useful life.” ~Booker T. Washington
“The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction
and the will to carry on.” ~Walter Lippman
“Earn your leadership every day.” ~Michael Jordan
“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the
credit for doing it.” ~Andrew Carnegie
“Leadership is the key to 99 percent of all successful efforts.” ~Erskine Bowles
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become
more, you are a leader.” ~John Quincy Adam
Balanced Life
“I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across
the many areas of your life. You can't truly be considered successful in your
business life if your home life is in shambles.” ~Zig Ziglar
“The trick to balance is to not make sacrificing important things become the
norm.” ~Simon Sinek
“The challenge of work-life balance is without question one of the most significant
struggles faced by modern man.” ~Stephen Covey
“I think at the end of the day you have to find a balance with what's really
important.” ~Julianne Hough
“I've always been very aware of balance and, even before I had a child, my life
always takes priority to my work.” ~Charlize Theron
“It's important to have balance in your life between work and play.” ~Bobby Flay
“My theory is that balance is key - nothing in excess.” ~L'Wren Scott
“The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great
powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a
wise man.” ~Euripides
“I’ve learned that you can’t have everything and do everything at the same time.”
~Oprah Winfrey
“Balance is not better time management, but better boundary management.
Balance means making choices and enjoying those choices.” ~Betsy Jacobson
“Work, love and play are the great balance wheels of man’s being.” ~Orison
Marden
“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and
harmony.” ~Thomas Merton
“It's all about quality of life and finding a happy balance between work and friends
and family.” ~Philip Green
“The Gift of Balance in Your Life – May you find the balance of life, time for
work but also time for play. Too much of one thing ends up creating stress that no
one needs in their life.” ~Catherine Pulsifer
“If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them.
Instead make your work more pleasurable.” ~Donald Trump
“There is no decision that we can make that doesn't come with some sort of
balance or sacrifice.” ~Simon Sinek
“You can't start with imbalance and end with peace, be that in your own body, in
an ecosystem or between a government and its people. What we need to strive for
is not perfection, but balance.” ~Ani DiFranco
“The challenge in my life really is keeping the balance between feeling creatively
energized and fulfilled without feeling overwhelmed and like I'm in the middle of a
battlefield.” ~Amanda Palmer
“Balance is key: I need to be successful in my career to feel fulfilled, be
surrounded by people I care about to share it with, and have my health to be able to
do the things I love to do!” ~Kiana Tom
“You have to make one thing a priority and achieve balance that way, rather than
trying to do everything all at once.” ~Jan Fields
“Everything is about balance. You can't work, work, work, work without any
play.” ~Janelle Monae
“I have a career, which is important, but my family is the priority. First family, and
then career. It's a delicate balance.” ~Jimmy Cliff
“A person has got to balance work and life and family in order to be a balanced
person.” ~P. J. O'Rourke
“Balance is good, because one extreme or the other leads to misery, and I've spent
a lot of my life at one of those extremes.” ~Trent Reznor
“It must be a balance in everything we do, not too much of everything, keep it
simple, not complicated.” ~Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Vision
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” ~Proverbs 29:18
“Vision - It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be.
Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the
picture your own.” ~Robert Collier
“Create your future from your future, not your past.” ~Werner Erhard
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who
looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” ~Carl Jung
“Success is about dedication. You may not be where you want to be or do what
you want to do when you're on the journey. But you've got to be willing to have
vision and foresight that leads you to an incredible end.” ~Usher
“Create a compelling vision, one that takes people to a new place, and then
translate that vision into a reality.” ~Warren G. Bennis
“No one is less ready for tomorrow than the person who holds the most rigid
beliefs about what tomorrow will contain.” ~Watts Wacker
“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” ~Jonathan Swift
“We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which
has led to the present.” ~Adlai Stevenson
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are
certain to miss the future.” ~John F. Kennedy
“All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their
future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their
distant vision, that goal or purpose.” ~Brian Tracy
“Success isn’t the end result, it’s found in our moment by moment shifts toward
the direction of your vision.” ~Marilyn Suttle
“The future belongs to people who see possibilities before they become obvious.”
~Ted Levitt
“To be a successful entrepreneur one needs a vision of greatness for one's work. If
we dream extravagantly we will be inspired to forge a reality beyond the straight
jacket of practicalities. There is a profound connection between art and enterprise
which allows businesses to overcome the limitations of their existing visions.” ~Sir
Ernest Hall
“In order to carry a positive action we must develop a positive vision.” ~Dalai
Lama
“An artist is not paid for his labor but for his vision.” ~James Whistler
“Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” ~George Washington Carver
“I have an idea of who I want to be, I have a vision of my own success.” ~Wiz
Khalifa
“The vision of a champion is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of
exhaustion, when nobody else is looking.” ~Mia Hamm
“Vision looks outward and becomes aspiration.” ~Stephen Samuel Wise
“The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them,
glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.” ~Pericles
“Have a vision. It is the ability to see the invisible. If you can see the invisible, you
can achieve the impossible.” ~Shiv Khera
“The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no
vision.” ~Helen Keller
“Forget about trying to compete with someone else. Create your own pathway.
Create your own new vision.” ~Herbie Hancock
“A healthy vision of the future is not possible without an accurate knowledge of
the past.” ~Daisaku Ikeda
“Anyone who limits her vision to memories of yesterday is already dead.” ~Lillie
Langtry
“To come to be you must have a vision of Being, a Dream, a Purpose, a Principle.
You will become what your vision is.” ~Peter Nivio Zarlenga
“Without vision, even the most focused passion is a battery without a device.”
~Ken Auletta
“To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable
wind.” ~Seneca
“Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.” ~Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is nightmare.”
~Japanese Proverb
“Vision without execution is hallucination.” ~Thomas Edison
“Determine that the thing can and shall be done and then we shall find the way.”
~Abraham Lincoln
Desire
“The starting point of all achievement is desire.” ~Napoleon Hill
“The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things
we fear.” ~Brian Tracy
“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be
successful.” ~Eric Thomas
“I have this burning desire to get out there and do my best. It's as if I'm keeping it
all in a little bottle, and it's all going to come out when I do the best I'm capable of
doing.” ~Jackie Joyner-Kersee
“Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.” ~Machiavelli
“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a
success.” ~Dr. Joyce Brothers
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than
any other.” ~Abraham Lincoln
“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of
failure.” ~Bill Cosby
“Desire is the key to motivation, but it's 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
“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these
are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” ~Confucius
“What you lack in talent can be made up with desire, hustle and giving 110 percent
all the time.” ~Don Zimmer
“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work
has been put in every heart.” ~Rumi
“Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and
knowledge.” ~Plato
“True charity is the desire to be useful to others with no thought of recompense.”
~Emanuel Swedenborg
“I think anything is possible if you have the mindset and the will and desire to do it
and put the time in.” ~Roger Clemens
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will
what you imagine and at last you create what you will.” ~George Bernard Shaw
“To desire and strive to be of some service to the world, to aim at doing something
which shall really increase the happiness and welfare and virtue of mankind - this
is a choice which is possible for all of us; and surely it is a good haven to sail for.”
~Henry Van Dyke
“When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with
enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.” ~W. Clement Stone
“You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as you dominant
aspiration.” ~James Allen
“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat
others.” ~Ayn Rand
“All personal achievement starts in the mind of the individual. Your personal
achievement starts in your mind. The first step is to know exactly what your
problem, goal or desire is.” ~W. Clement Stone
“In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or
principle contain it or stand against it.” ~Jane Smiley
Dreams
“Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.”
~George Lucas
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within
you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the
world.” ~Harriet Tubman
“Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.” ~James Dean
“When your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme.” ~Jiminy Cricket
“Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot
fly.” ~Langston Hughes
“It may be that those who do most, dream most.” ~Stephen Butler Leacock
“Life is short, fragile and does not wait for anyone. There will NEVER be a perfect
time to pursue your dreams & goals.” ~Unknown
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” ~C. S. Lewis
“I don't dream at night, I dream all day; I dream for a living.” ~Steven Spielberg
“A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.” ~John Barrymore
“Dreams are often most profound when they seem the most crazy.” ~Sigmund
Freud
“All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together.”
~Jack Kerouac
“Dream and give yourself permission to envision a You that you choose to be.”
~Joy Page
“All men of action are dreamers.” ~James Huneker
“I challenge you to be dreamers; I challenge you to be doers and let us make the
greatest place in the world even better.” ~Brian Schweitzer
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” ~Walt
Disney
“Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.”
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live
the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common
hours.” ~Henry David Thoreau
“If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish
your dreams.” ~Les Brown
“Dreams are necessary to life.” ~Anais Nin
“The center of every man's existence is a dream.” ~G.K. Chesterton
“It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.” ~Erma Bombeck
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ~Eleanor
Roosevelt
“Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make
dreams into reality.” ~Jonas Salk
“You have to dream before your dreams can come true.” ~Abdul Kalam
“Do all you can to make your dreams come true.” ~Joel Osteen
“All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together.”
~Jack Kerouac
“Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed, and nothing
ever changes without a dream.” ~Debby Boone
“The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” ~Oprah
Winfrey
“Follow your dreams, believe in yourself and don't give up.” ~Rachel Corrie
“It is better to risk starving to death then surrender. If you give up on your dreams,
what's left?” ~Jim Carrey
“Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from
life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of
failure.” ~Paulo Coelho
“We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an
awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” ~Jesse Owens
“A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and
hard work.” ~Colin Powell
“The greatest dreams are always unrealistic.” ~Will Smith
Skill and Talent
“I really believe that everyone has a talent, ability, or skill that he can mine to
support himself and to succeed in life.” ~Dean Koontz
“Your earning ability today is largely dependent upon your knowledge, skill and
your ability to combine that knowledge and skill in such a way that you contribute
value for which customers are going to pay.” ~Brian Tracy
“Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.”
~Leo Buscaglia
“Too many employers have said that they are unable to find skilled workers.”
~Dennis Hastert
“A skilled worker, regardless of the job description, remains a treasure.”
~Madeleine M. Kunin
“It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill.” ~Wilbur
Wright
“Only those who have patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill
to do difficult things easily.” ~James J. Corbett
“Learning how to learn is life's most important skill.” ~Tony Buzan
“Skill is the unified force of experience, intellect and passion in their operation.”
~John Ruskin
“We know that to compete for the jobs of the 21st century and thrive in a global
economy, we need a growing, skilled and educated workforce.” ~Mark Pocan
“If the power to do hard work is not a skill, it's the best possible substitute for it.”
~James A. Garfield
“Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.” ~George Herbert
“Don't bring your need to the marketplace, bring your skill. If you don't feel well,
tell your doctor, but not the marketplace. If you need money, go to the bank, but
not the marketplace.” ~Jim Rohn
“Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire
(want to do).” ~Stephen R. Covey
“Knowledge is being aware of what you can do. Wisdom is knowing when not to
do it.” ~Anonymous
“We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts.”
~Madeleine L'Engle
“A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to
develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.” ~Larry
Bird
“Hide not your talents. They for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?”
~Benjamin Franklin
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the
successful one is a lot of hard work.” ~Stephen King
“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest
happiness in using it.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang
there except those that sang best.” ~Henry Van Dyke
“A person has the right, and I think the responsibility, to develop all of their
talents.” ~Jessye Norman
“Everyone has their own talents. It's up to the individual to see what you can
actually do.” ~Win Butler
“Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-
given. Be careful.” ~John Wooden
“When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.” ~John Ruskin
Attitude
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” ~Winston Churchill
“An attitude of positive expectation is the mark of the superior personality.”
~Brian Tracy
“Attitudes are contagious. Make yours worth catching. ~Unknown
“Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men
act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes
a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be
amazed at the positive results. ~William James
“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character. ~Albert Einstein
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is
not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John F. Kennedy
“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the
seed of either success or failure in the mind of another." ~Napoleon Hill
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn
bushes have roses.” ~Abraham Lincoln
“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal;
noting on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” ~Thomas
Jefferson
“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and
not upon our circumstances.” ~Martha Washington
“The winner's edge is not in a gifted birth, a high IQ, or in talent. The winner's
edge is all in the attitude, not aptitude. Attitude is the criterion for success.”
~Dennis Waitley
“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough
people to make it worth the effort.” ~Herm Albright
“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your
attitude.” ~Maya Angelou
“Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how
you're going to live your life.” ~Joel Osteen
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely
changing his attitude.” ~Oprah Winfrey
“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” ~Zig Ziglar
“Our attitude toward life determines life's attitude towards us.” ~John N. Mitchell
“You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your attitude toward
what happens to you, and in that, you will be mastering change rather than
allowing it to master you.” ~Brian Tracy
“Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than
circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance,
giftedness, or skill.” ~W. C. Fields
“Great effort springs naturally from great attitude.” ~Pat Riley
“Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thoughts, and habits can be acquired. An
action repeated becomes an attitude realized.” ~Paul Myer
“Your attitude colors every aspect of your life. It is like the mind's paintbrush. It
can paint everything in bright, vibrant colors--creating a masterpiece. Or it can
make everything dark and dreary.” ~John Maxwell
“Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do.
Attitude determines how well you do it.” ~Lou Holtz
“None of us can avoid being contaminated by the world's evils; it's all a matter of
what attitude you take towards them.” ~Azar Nafisi
“There is very little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big
difference. The little difference is attitude.” ~W. Clement Stone
“You can't always control circumstances. However, you can always control your
attitude, approach, and response. Your options are to complain or to look ahead
and figure out how to make the situation better.” ~Tony Dungy
“Your attitude determines how you experience the world.” ~Sanaya Roman
“A positive attitude from you tends to produce a positive attitude toward you.”
~Deborah Day
“An attitude of gratitude brings great things.” ~Yogi Bhajan
“The right attitude is everything!” ~Lorii Myers
Support from Others
“I built my talents on the shoulders of someone else's talent.” ~Michael Jordan
“It is better to be alone than in bad company.” ~George Washington
“My success was due to good luck, hard work, and support and advice from friends
and mentors.” ~Mark Warner
“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to
get along with people.” ~Theodore Roosevelt
“Every success I have ever had or will have in the future comes not solely from my
own ambition and hard work, but also from those that have encouraged, supported
and challenged me. Success is never, ever a one person job.” ~T.S. Tate
“In a relationship each person should support the other; they should lift each other
up.” ~Taylor Swift
“A friend who will never fail is the one who will stand by you regardless of the
situation, time or location.” ~Ellen J. Barrier
“Close friends are truly life's treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we
know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to
share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really
alone.” ~Vincent van Gogh
“It is a friend's duty that he does not leave his friend in a difficult position but
provide intimacy and support to him. In difficulty who leaves is a false and the one
not quitting is a true friend.” ~Acharya Mahapragya
“There is strength in numbers, yes, but even more so in collective good will. For
those endeavors are supported by mighty forces unseen.” ~Richelle E. Goodrich
“A sincere promise, coupled with a helping hand, can bring hope where before
there had been only despair.” ~Richard Sagor
“Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others.
Unsuccessful people are always asking, 'What's in it for me?” ~Brian Tracy
“You can do anything as long as you have the passion, the drive, the focus, and the
support.” ~Sabrina Bryan
“Life is not a solo act. It's a huge collaboration, and we all need to assemble around
us the people who care about us and support us in times of strife.” ~Tim Gunn
“Surround yourself with people who provide you with support and love and
remember to give back as much as you can in return.” ~Karen Kain
“I'd like to say to all my fans out there, thanks for the support. And to all my
doubters, thank you very much because you guys have also pushed me.” ~Usain
Bolt
“A man's pride can be his downfall, and he needs to learn when to turn to others
for support and guidance.” ~Bear Grylls
“Just remember: to be grateful and thank the people who are there and support you
along the way is a great start to success.” ~Meryl Davis
“I've always thought that people need to feel good about themselves and I see my
role as offering support to them, to provide some light along the way.” ~Leo
Buscaglia
“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that
person to realize his dream.” ~Paulo Coelho
“Was it you or I who stumbled first? It does not matter. The one of us who finds
the strength to get up first, must help the other.” ~Vera Nazarian
“I don't need to be inspired any longer, just supported.” ~Kurt Cobain
“I learned something recently: our true friends are those who are with us when the
good things happen. They cheer us on and are pleased by our triumphs. False
friends only appear at difficult times, with their sad, supportive faces, when, in
fact, our suffering is serving to console them for their miserable lives.” ~Paulo
Coelho
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” ~Charles
Dickens
“We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.” ~Ronald Reagan
Personal Growth and Learning
“Growth is the great separator between those who succeed and those who do not.
When I see a person beginning to separate themselves from the pack, it's almost
always due to personal growth.” ~John C. Maxwell
“You don't need to change the world; you need to change yourself.” ~Miguel Ruiz
“As long as you're green, you're growing. As soon as you're ripe, you start to rot.”
~Ray Kroc
“In a world that is constantly changing, there is no one subject or set of subjects
that will serve you for the foreseeable future, let alone for the rest of your life. The
most important skill to acquire now is learning how to learn.” ~John Naisbitt
“If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want
and copy what they do and you'll achieve the same results.” ~Tony Robbins
“It's what you learn after you know it all that counts” ~John Wooden
“A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been
discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved
problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing
the [yet] unsolved ones.” ~Abraham Lincoln
“It is better to learn late than never.” ~Publilius Syrus
“Growth is the only evidence of life.” ~John Henry Newman
“The minute that you're not learning I believe you're dead.” ~Jack Nicholson
“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.”
~Thomas Huxley
“The most important thing about education is appetite.” ~Winston Churchill
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
~Jim Rohn
“If we are growing we are always going to be outside our comfort zone.” ~John
Maxwell
“Often, it’s not about becoming a new person, but becoming the person you were
meant to be, and already are, but don’t know how to be.” ~Heath L. Buckmaster
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
~Mahatma Gandhi
“Learning never exhausts the mind.” ~Leonardo da Vinci
“We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they
have traveled from the point where they started.” ~Henry Ward Beecher
“You learn something every day if you pay attention.” ~Ray LeBlond
“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.”
~Anthony J. D'Angelo
“Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.” ~Chinese
Proverb
“Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement,
achievement, and success have no meaning.” ~Benjamin Franklin
“There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human
intelligence, imagination, and wonder.” ~Ronald Reagan
“Learning is the beginning of wealth. Learning is the beginning of health. Learning
is the beginning of spirituality. Searching and learning is where the miracle process
all begins.” ~Jim Rohn
“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and
diligence.” ~Abigail Adams
“Life is growth. If we stop growing, technically and spiritually, we are as good as
dead.” ~Morihei Ueshiba
“Those who improve with age embrace the power of personal growth and personal
achievement and begin to replace youth with wisdom, innocence with
understanding, and lack of purpose with self-actualization.” ~Bo Bennett
“The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual.”
~Samuel Smiles
“The more seriously you take your growth, the more seriously your people will
take you.” ~John Maxwell
“Most of us must learn a great deal every day in order to keep ahead of what we
forget.” ~Frank Clark
“If a person will spend one hour a day on the same subject for five years, that
person will be an expert on that subject.” ~Earl Nightingale
Hard Work
“There is simply no substitute for hard work when it comes to achieving success.”
~Heather Bresch
“The Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the
price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're
willing to pay the price.” ~Vince Lombardi
“Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and
discouraged men who kept on working.” ~ Unknown
“Some people dream of success... while others wake up and work hard at it.”
~Author Unknown
“Don't ever, ever, believe anyone who tells you that you can just get by, by doing
the easiest thing possible. Because there's always somebody behind you who really
wants to do what you're doing. And they're going to work harder than you if you're
not working hard.” ~Maria Bartiromo
“Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise.” ~Ritu Ghatourey
“No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.” ~ Anonymous
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the
determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to
the task at hand.” ~Vince Lombardi
“I learned the value of hard work by working hard.” ~Margaret Mead
“A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and
hard work.” ~Colin Powell
“Success is not a destination, but the road that you're on. Being successful means
that you're working hard and walking your walk every day. You can only live your
dream by working hard towards it. That's living your dream.” ~Marlon Wayans
“Keep working hard and you can get anything that you want.” ~Aaliyah
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.” ~Herb Brooks
“My success just evolved from working hard at the business at hand each day.”
~Johnny Carson
“Working hard is very important. You're not going to get anywhere without
working extremely hard.” ~George Lucas
“There's really no substitute for working hard. I think that's my biggest talent.
There are always people who are funnier and more talented than I am, but I don't
take anything for granted and I commit myself 100% to each of my roles.” ~Ken
Jeong
“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.” ~Gordon B. Hinckley
“Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some
turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.” ~Sam Ewing
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work
you already did.” ~Newt Gingrich
“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognize
them.” ~Ann Landers
“I just have to keep working hard.” ~Paula Creamer
“Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.”
~Booker T. Washington
“There is no substitute for hard work.” ~Thomas A. Edison
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the
successful one is a lot of hard work.” ~Stephen King
“Inspiration is one thing and you can't control it, but hard work is what keeps the
ship moving. Good luck means, work hard. Keep up the good work.” ~Kevin
Eubanks
“The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: Hard work, Stick-
to-itiveness, and Common sense.” ~Thomas A. Edison
“The fruit of your own hard work is the sweetest.” ~Deepika Padukone
“In my experience, being busy and working hard is the key to sanity/happiness.”
~Jemima Khan
“We all naturally want to become successful... we also want to take shortcuts. And
it's easy to do so, but you can never take away the effort of hard work and
discipline and sacrifice.” ~Apolo Ohno
“The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” ~Harry Golden
“The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes
around wearing overalls looking like hard work.” ~Thomas A. Edison
“Hard work pays off - hard work beats talent any day, but if you're talented and
work hard, it's hard to be beat” ~Robert Griffin III
Passion
“You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing.” ~Dale Carnegie
“Passion isn't something that lives way up in the sky, in abstract dreams and hopes.
It lives at ground level, in the specific details of what you're actually doing every
day.” ~Marcus Buckingham
“Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy.”
~Anonymous
“Get in touch with your passion and put it to work at work.” ~Marilyn Suttle
“Once something is a passion, the motivation is there.” ~Michael Schumache
“Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it
will come naturally.” ~David Frost
“Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.” ~Georg
Friedrich
“Rest in reason; move in passion.” ~Khalil Gibran
“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” ~Benjamin Franklin
“The future may be made up of many factors but where it truly lies is in the hearts
and minds of men. Your dedication should not be confined for your own gain, but
unleashes your passion for our beloved country as well as for the integrity and
humanity of mankind.” ~Li Ka Shing
“Renew your passions daily.” ~Terri Guillemets
“The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.” ~Ferdinand Foch
“There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it’s the aspiration of
an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent, or a businessperson.” ~Anthony Robbins
“Never underestimate the power of passion.” ~Eve Sawyer
“When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn.” ~John
Wesley
“One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.” ~E. M.
Forster
“Purpose may point you in the right direction but it’s passion that propels you.”
~Travis McAshan
“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”
~Oprah Winfrey
“We must act out passion before we can feel it.” ~Jean-Paul Sartre
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within
you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the
world.” ~Harriet Tubman
“It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion to a person who has never
experienced it than we can explain light to the blind.” ~ T.S Eliot
“Our passion is our strength.” ~Billie Joe Armstrong
“Anyone can dabble, but once you've made that commitment, your blood has that
particular thing in it, and it's very hard for people to stop you.” ~Bill Cosby
“Chase your passion, not your pension.” ~Denis Waitley
“There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less
than the one you are capable of living.” ~Nelson Mandela
“Without passion man is a mere latent force and possibility, like the flint which
awaits the shock of the iron before it can give forth its spark.” ~Henri Frederic
Amiel
“Without passion you don’t have energy, without energy you have nothing.”
~Donald Trump
“I try to live my life where I end up at a point where I have no regrets. So I try to
choose the road that I have the most passion on because then you can never really
blame yourself for making the wrong choices. You can always say you're
following your passion.” ~Darren Aronofsky
“Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Every civilization is, among other things, an arrangement for domesticating the
passions and setting them to do useful work.” ~Aldous Huxley
“I can't imagine a person becoming a success who doesn't give this game of life
everything he's got.” ~Walter Cronkite
“Nobody can be successful unless he loves his work.” ~David Sarnoff
Perseverance
“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others
have thrown at him.” ~David Brinkley
“Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.”
~William Feather
“The road to success is always under construction” ~Lily Tomlin
“Remember that guy that gave up? Neither does no one else.” ~Unknown
“Becoming successful in anything requires perseverance.” ~Nicholas Sparks
“Perseverance is an active principle, and cannot continue to operate but under the
influence of desire.” ~William Godwin
“Perseverance is a virtue that cannot be understated.” ~Bob Riley
“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.” ~Samuel
Johnson
“So long as there is breath in me, that long I will persist. For now I know one of
the greatest principles on success; if I persist long enough I will win.” ~Og
Mandino
“Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action,
perseverance, and facing your fears.” ~Gillian Anderson
“People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they
don’t know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.”
~George E. Allen
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work
you already did.” ~Newt Gingrich
“Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.” ~Julie Andrews
“Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and
loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.” ~Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
“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
“The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a
strong will, and the other from a strong won't.” ~Henry Ward Beecher
“Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to
be certain failure.” ~Benjamin Disraeli
“You aren't going to find anybody that's going to be successful without making a
sacrifice and without perseverance.” ~Lou Holtz
“No one succeeds without effort... Those who succeed owe their success to
perseverance.” ~Ramana Maharshi
“It's perseverance that's the key. It's persevering for long enough to achieve your
potential.” ~Lynn Davies
“I think one of the most important attributes is perseverance.” ~David Rose
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work
you already did.” ~Newt Gingrich
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.” ~Walter
Elliott
“Let perseverance be your engine and hope your fuel.” ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“An obstacle is often a stepping stone.” ~Prescott
“When I think about parallels between myself and an Olympian, I believe that
success in the world of business is underpinned by very similar principles of
perseverance and hard work.” ~Lakshmi Mittal
“The best way out of a problem is through it.” ~Author Unknown
“Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.” ~Author
Unknown
“Determine that the thing can and shall be done and then we shall find the way.”
~Abraham Lincoln
“Everything that I've ever been able to accomplish in skating and in life has come
out of adversity and perseverance.” ~Scott Hamilton
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” ~Jim Rohn
“Perseverance, the secret of all triumphs.” ~Victor Hugo
Enthusiastic
“The real secret of success is enthusiasm.” ~Walter Chrysler
“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” ~Winston
Churchill
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is
always to try just one more time.” ~Thomas A. Edison
“The man who can drive himself further, once the effort gets painful, is the man
who will win.” ~Roger Bannister
“We're constantly striving for success, fame and comfort when all we really need
to be happy is someone or something to be enthusiastic about.” ~Jackson Brown,
Jr.
“One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is
overtaken by temporary defeat.” ~Napoleon Hill
“When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It's
very simple.” ~Paulo Coelho
“All we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”
~Charles Kingsley
“Get excited and enthusiastic about you own dream. This excitement is like a
forest fire - you can smell it, taste it, and see it from a mile away.” ~Denis Waitley
“Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic.” ~Dale Carnegie
“Enthusiasm is not the same as just being excited. One gets excited about going on
a roller coaster. One becomes enthusiastic about creating and building a roller
coaster.” ~Bo Bennett
“When you're a very ambitious person, the things that are disappointing are when
other people around you aren't as enthusiastic.” ~Reba McEntire
“No person who is enthusiastic about his work has anything to fear from life.”
~Samuel Goldwyn
“Success is not to be measured by the position someone has reached in life, but the
obstacles he has overcome while trying to succeed.” ~Booker T. Washington
“Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting
our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the
soul.” ~Samuel Ullman
“Enthusiasm is the greatest asset you can possess, for it can take you further than
money, power or influence.” ~Dada Vaswani
“Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing,
do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own
personality. Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your
object. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” ~Ralph Waldo
Emerson
“When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild
those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.” ~Napoleon Hill
“Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life. Failure comes when we
shrink from them.” ~John C. Maxwell
“Enthusiasm moves the world.” ~Arthur Balfour
“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which mean
never losing your enthusiasm.” ~Aldous Huxley
“Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes shine to the stars. Enthusiasm is
the sparkle in your eyes, the swing in your gait. The grip of your hand, the
irresistible surge of will and energy to execute your ideas.” ~Henry Ford
“Protect your enthusiasm from the negativity of others.” ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“I play to win, whether during practice or a real game. And I will not let anything
get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win.” ~Michael Jordan
“There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity
and accomplishment.” ~Norman Vincent Peale
“Enthusiasm is the mother of effort, and without it nothing great was ever
achieved.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and enthusiasm. Life does give
back in kind.” ~Norman Vincent Peale
“When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand. It will fill you with
enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.” ~W. Clement Stone
Motivation
“Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must
be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably
come your way.” ~Les Brown
“Get going. Move forward. Aim High. Plan a take-off. Don't just sit on the runway
and hope someone will come along and push the airplane. It simply won't happen.
Change your attitude and gain some altitude. Believe me, you'll love it up here.”
~Donald J. Trump
“Other people's success spurs me on to do well and gives me motivation.”
~Nicholas Hoult
“Talent is crucial. It needs to be driven by motivation, but blind ambition isn't the
key.” ~Lily Cole
“I think that most of the people running companies today are motivated and pay is
a small portion of the motivation.” ~James Sinegal
“I don't believe we're only motivated by our own self-interests. Often out of crisis
comes this enormous wellspring of generosity and motivation.” ~Josh Fox
“When you look at people who are successful, you will find that they aren't the
people who are motivated, but have consistency in their motivation.” ~Arsene
Wenger
“We talk on principal, but act on motivation.” ~Walter Savage Landor
“If you must have motivation, think of your paycheck on Friday.” ~Noel Coward
“People need motivation to do anything. I don't think human beings learn anything
without desperation.” ~Jim Carrey
“There's always the motivation of wanting to win. Everybody has that. But a
champion needs, in his attitude, a motivation above and beyond winning.” ~Pat
Riley
“Desire is the key to motivation, but it's the determination and commitment to
unrelenting pursuit of your goal - a commitment to excellence - that will enable
you to attain the success you seek.” ~Mario Andretti
“Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.” ~Norman Ralph Augustine
“The older you get, the more fragile you understand life to be. I think that's good
motivation for getting out of bed joyfully each day.” ~Julia Roberts
“Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.” ~Lou Holtz
“People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's
why we recommend it daily.” ~Zig Ziglar
“If someone is going down the wrong road, he doesn't need motivation to speed
him up. What he needs is education to turn him around.” ~Jim Rohn
“Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do.
Attitude determines how well you do it.” ~Lou Holtz
“When I lose the sense of motivation and the sense to prove something as a
basketball player, it's time for me to move away from the game.” ~Michael Jordan
“Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be
two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to
inspire his people.” ~Lee Iacocca
“In the new economy, information, education, and motivation are everything.”
~William J. Clinton
“Once something is a passion, the motivation is there.” ~Michael Schumacher
“I think it all comes down to motivation. If you really want to do something, you
will work hard for it.” ~Edmund Hillary
“A champion needs a motivation above and beyond winning.” ~Pat Riley
“I never race for records. The motivation to try to beat the record is not enough to
continue. You have to enjoy it.” ~Valentino Rossi
“You can look for external sources of motivation and that can catalyze a change,
but it won't sustain one. It has to be from an internal desire.” ~Jillian Michaels
“The motivation is in my heart to work toward my goals and my dreams.” ~Nonito
Donaire
“Talent is crucial. It needs to be driven by motivation, but blind ambition isn't the
key.” ~Lily Cole
Courage
“If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.”
~David Viscott
“Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.” ~George S. Patton
“Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.” ~John
Wooden
“Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are
often stiffened.” ~Billy Graham
“Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have
encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against
overwhelming odds.” ~Orison Swett Marden
“The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the
next.” ~Mignon McLaughlin
“Courage - a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness
to endure it.” ~William Tecumseh Sherman
“A lot of people do not muster the courage to live their dreams because they are
afraid to die.” ~Les Brown
“Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not
have an opportunity to use any of the others.” ~Samuel Johnson
“The trials on the road to world harmony are no greater than the courage of those
who accept the challenge.” ~Carl Lewis
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” ~Walt
Disney
“You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet
it with courage and with the best that you have to give.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt
“A man of courage is also full of faith.” ~Marcus Tullius Cicero
“You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to
solve all of the world's problems at once but don't ever underestimate the
importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be
contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.” ~Michelle Obama
“The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”
~Robert Green Ingersoll
“Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears.” ~Arthur
Koestler
“True courage is being afraid, and going ahead and doing your job anyhow, that's
what courage is.” ~Norman Schwarzkopf
“Courage can't see around corners but goes around them anyway.” ~Mignon
McLaughlin
“It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and
succeeded.” ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh
“Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life.” ~E. M. Forster
“The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance
comes when we are in the majority.” ~Ralph W. Sockman
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit
down and listen.” ~Winston Churchill
“Courage is grace under pressure.” ~Ernest Hemingway
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
~T. S. Eliot
“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
~Muhammad Ali
“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing
point.” ~C. S. Lewis
“You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality
of the mind next to honor.” ~Aristotle
“One man with courage is a majority.” ~Thomas Jefferson
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the
shore.” ~Andre Gide
“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” ~Vincent Van
Gogh
“The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can
go with the flow.” ~Jim Hightower
“Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin
anyway and see it through no matter what.” ~Harper Lee
Humility
“[Humility is:] Greatness in plain clothes.” ~Spencer W. Kimball
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.” ~C. S.
Lewis
“Fullness of knowledge always and necessarily means some understanding of the
depths of our ignorance, and that is always conducive to both humility and
reverence.” ~Robert A. Millikan
“Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this
virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance.”
~Saint Augustine
“There is no respect for others without humility in one's self.” ~Henri Frederic
Amiel
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” ~Matthew 5:5
“Humility is to make a right estimate of oneself.” ~Charles H. Spurgeon
“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as
angels.” ~Saint Augustine
“Life is a long lesson in humility.” ~James M. Barrie
“True humility is intelligent self respect which keeps us from thinking too highly
or too meanly of ourselves. It makes us modest by reminding us how far we have
come short of what we can be.” ~Ralph W. Sockman
“The fullest and best ears of corn hang lowest toward the ground.” ~Bishop
Reynolds
“Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.” ~La
Rochefoucauld
“Many people believe that humility is the opposite of pride, when, in fact, it is a
point of equilibrium. The opposite of pride is actually a lack of self-esteem. A
humble person is totally different from a person who cannot recognize and
appreciate himself as part of this worlds marvels.” ~Rabino Nilton Bonder
“Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility. An able and yet
humble man is a jewel worth a kingdom.” ~William Penn
“I always say be humble but be firm. Humility and openness are the key to success
without compromising your beliefs.” ~George Hickenlooper
“The first test of a truly great man is his humility. By humility I don't mean doubt
of his powers or hesitation in speaking his opinion, but merely an understanding of
the relationship of what he can say and what he can do.” ~John Ruskin
“Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right.”
~Ezra Taft Benson
“Humility is royalty without a crown.” ~Spencer W. Kimball
“In a humble state, you learn better. I can't find anything else very exciting about
humility, but at least there's that.” ~John Dooner
“Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.” ~Thomas Merton
“We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.” ~Rabindranath
Tagore
“I believe the first test of a truly great man is in his humility.” ~John Ruskin
“Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-
respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.” ~John McCloy
“Have the humility to learn from those around you.” ~John C. Maxwell
“A man who is at the top is a man who has the habit of getting to the bottom.”
~Joseph E. Rogers
“Power is dangerous unless you have humility.” ~Richard J. Daley
“With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings.”
~Ezra Taft Benson
“Humility is at the equilibrium of ego. When we’re on center, we manage our ego
rather than it managing us.” ~Steve Smith
“Humility is the only true wisdom by which we prepare our minds for all the
possible changes of life.” ~George Arliss
“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”
~Oscar Levant
“True humility is contentment.” ~Henri Frederic Amiel
“Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.” ~Confucius
Excellence
“No student 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.” ~Charles Kendall Adams
“Be relentless in your alignment with excellence.” ~Steve Maraboli
“In every moment we have a choice to excel.” ~Marilyn Suttle
“Find something that you're really interested in doing in your life. Pursue it, set
goals, and commit yourself to excellence. Do the best you can.” ~Chris Evert
“Whatever your discipline, become a student of excellence in all things. Take
every opportunity to observe people who manifest the qualities of mastery. These
models of excellence will inspire you and guide you toward the fulfillment of your
highest potential.” ~Michael Gelb and Tony Buzan
“If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit
doing less-than-excellent work.” ~Thomas J. Watson
“The secret of living a life of excellence is merely a matter of thinking thoughts of
excellence. Really, it's a matter of programming our minds with the kind of
information that will set us free.” ~Charles R. Swindoll
“The test of the artist does not lie in the will with which he goes to work, but in
the excellence of the work he produces.” ~Thomas Aquinas
“The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” ~Unknown
“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these
are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” ~Confucius
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be
undertaken with painstaking excellence.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where
excellence is expected.” ~Steve Jobs
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
~Vince Lombardi
“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly
because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have
acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a
habit.” ~Aristotle
“The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to
excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” ~Vince Lombardi
“The excellent person manages himself. He will not allow the environment to
manage him.” ~Rex Resurreccion
“Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.” ~Ralph Marston
“Just make up your mind at the very outset that your work is going to stand for
quality... that you are going to stamp a superior quality upon everything that goes
out of your hands, that whatever you do shall bear the hallmark of excellence.”
~Orison Swett Marden
“Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.” ~John W. Gardner
“When you do the common things in an uncommon way, you'll command the
attention of the world.” ~George Washington Carver
“If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little
matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” ~Colin Powell
“Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.” ~Booker T.
Washington
“Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with
excellence.” ~Author Unknown
“Excellence always sells.” ~Earl Nightingale
“Excellence means when a man or woman asks of himself more than others do.”
~Jose Ortega Gasset
“Excellence is the unlimited ability to improve the quality of what you have to
offer.” ~Rick Pitino
“If you deliver excellence right now, that gives you the best shot at the best future
you've got coming.” ~Robert Forster
“Excellence is a process that should occupy all our days.” ~Ted Engstrom
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”
~Aristotle
“There are no speed limits on the road to excellence.” ~Unknown
Action
“Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and
define you.” ~Thomas Jefferson
“Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.” ~Oscar Wilde
“The path to success is to take massive, determined action.” ~Anthony Robbins
“Things may come to those who wait…but only the things left by those who
hustle.” ~Abraham Lincoln
“I never worry about action, but only about inaction.” ~Winston Churchill
“Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want
also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.” ~Jules Renard
“The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.” ~George
Bernard Shaw
“Success will never be a big step in the future, success is a small step taken just
now.” ~Jonatan Mårtensson
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” ~Mark Twain
“Eighty percent of success is showing up.” ~Woody Allen
“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we
must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” ~Leonardo da Vinci
“Well done is better than well said.” ~Benjamin Franklin
“Between saying and doing many a pair of shoes is worn out.” ~Italian Proverb
“The shortest answer is doing.” ~Lord Herbert
“Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust
movement.” ~Alfred Adler
“Never mistake motion for action.” ~Ernest Hemingway
“Do it, and then you will feel motivated to do it.” ~Zig Ziglar
“People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.” ~Lewis Cass
“We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.” ~Calvin
Coolidge
“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go
in.” ~Andrew Jackson
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“Don't wait. The time will never be just right.” ~Napoleon Hill
“Action conquers fear.” ~Peter Nivio Zarlenga
“Vision without execution is hallucination.” ~Thomas Edison
“He that waits upon fortune is never sure of a dinner.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
“It's not what you know, it's what you do with what you know.” ~ Unknown
“An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” ~ Friedrich Engels
“You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.”~
Les Brown
“He who has begun is half done.” ~ Horace
“Success will never be a big step in the future, success is a small step taken just
now.” ~ Jonatan Martensso
“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” ~William B.
Sprague
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” ~Unknown
“Anyone can do something when they WANT to do it. Really successful people do
things when they don't want to do it.” ~Dr. Phil
“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They
make mistakes but don't quit.” ~Conrad Hilton
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” ~John Wooden
About Me My professional experience has been working with youth. I have been a drug and alcohol rehab
Case Manager and also a Behavior Specialist for foster kids. My personal experience has been
working with youth and young adults as a church leader. I have an Associate’s degree in
Theology and a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development. I write about leadership on my blog
at danblackonleadership.com. My desire is to help you become a better person and leader.
You can also purchase my book titled: The Leadership Mandate. It can be purchased as a Kindle
Edition or audio book. You can purchase either version through Amazon.com. Learn more about
the book by clicking HERE.
Below are several articles from my blog on the topic of success:
Laws of Success Pt. 1
Laws of Success Pt. 2
One Irrefutable Secret of Success
Fear of Success
How to Succeed Through Failure
Three Undeniable Dangers of Success
4 Foundational Elements of Success
Indispensable Requirements of Success
The True Measure of Success
Success or Failure – Never Forever
Legal Stuff I found these quotes in a variety of books and online sites. To my knowledge they have been
quoted and cited in the correct manner. In no way is my intent to steal or plagiarize any of the
quotes in this book. If any of the authors mentioned who do not want their names cited in this
eBook, please contact me at [email protected] and I will remove it.