
25/01/2022
Founding Father and President George Washington
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Here's the plight of any guy who strives to "make it:" ceaseless hard work broken up by long stretches of time where failure seems all but inevitable. It happens to everyone, from professional basketball players to five-star generals to the inventors and innovators that have tectonically shifted human society. But these exceptional men and women powered through, and changed the world for the better—and here's what they had to say about it. Print these success quotes out. Tape them to your desk. And when the going gets tough, refer to them. You'll thank us. And if reading these success quotes has you wanting to life a better life, read up on the 50 ways to be a better man.
ASports
basketball chris cuomo
Some people just know how to play ball—on and off the court.
1Bo Jackson
bo jackson success quotes
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman James C. Dillard / Public Domain
"Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there."
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
2Bear Bryant
bear bryant success quotes
Public Domain
"It's not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."
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3Tommy Lasorda
tomm lasorda success quotes
"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination."
4Billie Jean King
billie jean king success quotes
"Champions keep playing until they get it right." You'll also want to check out these 20 Timeless One-Liners from History& #8217;s Extraordinary Women.
5Kareem Abdul-Jabbar[
kareem success quotes
"One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team."
6Arthur Ashe
arthur ashe success quotes
Dutch National Archives / CC0 1.0
"You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy."
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
7Lou Holtz
lou holtz success quotes
Alamy
"Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period."
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8Michael Jordan
michael jordan successq quotes
Shutterstock
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
9John Wooden
john wooden success quotes
Public Domain
"Never mistake activity for achievement."
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
10Muhammad Ali
ali success quotes
"I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'"
BInnovators
thomas edison lightbulb geniuses
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The lightbulb, the car, the telephone—we wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for these legends.
11Thomas Edison
Shutter
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
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12Henry Ford
"The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one's destiny to do, and then do it."
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13Alexander Graham Bell
Public Domain
"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success."
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Albert Einstein
albert einstein success quotes
"Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value."
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Dale Carnegie
"Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success."
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16Steve Jobs
steve jobs wore the same thing every day
Getty Images
"I'm convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."
17Thomas J. Watson
thomas watson success quotes
Courtesy IBM
"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that's where you will find success."
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
18Bill Gates
success quotes bill gates
Paolo Bona/Shutterstock
"As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others."
CFilm
woman film camera
If movies are uplifting, their creators are even more so.
19James Cameron
Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock
"If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success."
20Kevin Kline
kevin kline success quotes
"People ask, 'What's the best role you've ever played?' The next one."
21Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
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"Success? I don't know what that word means. I'm happy. But success, that goes back to what in somebody's eyes success means. For me, success is inner peace. That's a good day for me."
22Martha Stewart
martha stewart success quptes
Shutterstock
"I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing."
23Bruce Lee
bruce lee celebrity deaths
Wikimedia Commons
"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus."
24Dax Shepard
Dax Shephard
"Success is just a war of attrition. Sure, there's an element of talent you should probably possess. But if you just stick around long enough, eventually something is going to happen."
25Robert Rodriguez
robert rodriguez success quotes
"When given an opportunity, deliver excellence and never quit."
DLiterature
Secondhand books, old books, used books, secondhand
Their words—on and off the page—permeate through history.
26Henry David Thoreau
henry thoreau success quotes
"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it."
27Stephen King
stephen king success quotes
Shutterstock
"Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work."