Success

I believe in Success,
And in Comfort no less
I believe all the rest is but patter.
~ William Allingham, from Blackberries Picked Off Many Bushes (1884).

What are the qualities which make for success? They are three: Judgment, Industry, and Health, and perhaps the greatest of these is judgment. These are the three pillars which hold up the fabric of success. But in using the word judgment one has said everything.
~ William Maxwell Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook), from Success By Lord Beaverbrook (1921). I. Success

Anything is yours, if you only want it hard enough. Just think of it. ANYTHING. Try it. Try it in earnest and you will succeed.
~ William Walker Atkinson, Thought Force in Business and Everyday Life (1901). Chapter XI. The Adductive Quality of Thought

[E]ach must work out his own Success along the lines of his own Individuality, rather than by following any set rule or line of conduct.
~ William Walker Atkinson, The Secret of Success (1907). The Secret of Success

A successful team is a group of many hands but of one mind.
~ Bill Bethel

Success is brought by continued labor and continued watchfulness. We must struggle on, not for one moment hesitate, nor take one backward step.
~ William Jennings Bryan, Valedictory Address. Illinois College, Jacksonville, IL (June 1881).

There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success.
~ Paul William "Bear" Bryant, I Ain't Never Been Nothing but a Winner: Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's 323 Greatest Quotes About Success, On and Off the Football Field (March 2000).

Never mind what others do; do better than yourself, beat your own record from day to day, and you are a success.
~ William J.H. Boetcker

Your success depends mainly upon what you think of yourself and whether you believe in yourself.
~ William J.H. Boetcker

A young person, to achieve, must first get out of his mind any notion either of the ease of rapidity of success. Nothing ever just happens in this world.
~ Edward William Bok

You cannot judge a man's life by the success of a moment, by the victory of an hour, or even by the results of a year. You must view his life as a whole.
~ William Jennings Bryan, Address delivered at the St. Paul Methodist Church, Lincoln NE (1890). The Law and the Gospel

My success just evolved from working hard at the business at hand each day.
~ "Johnny" William Carson

Talent alone won't make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: "Are you ready?"
~ "Johnny" William Carson

Success is never so interesting as struggle -- not even to the successful.
~ Willa Sibert Cather, The Song of the Lark (1932 edition). Preface

There is but one straight road to success, and that is merit.
~ W. Bourke Cockran

We don't have to make money, only a difference, and particularly in the lives society counts least and puts last.br>~ Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., from Credo (2003). Faith, Hope, Love

A young man asked me recently what spelled success on the stage. I told him the only way I had ever found of spelling it was W-O-R-K.
~ William M. ("Will") Cressy, Continuous Vaudeville (1914).

The road to success runs uphill.
~ Willie Davis

[T]hat life alone succeeds which attains the highest ends possible to its capacity.
~ William James ("W.J.") Dawson, The Book of Courage (1911). Chapter II: The Success of Failure

[L]ife has no smooth roads for any of us. And in the bracing atmosphere of a high aim, the very roughness only stimulates the climber to sturdier and steadier steps, till that other legend of the rough places fulfils itself at last; ... over steep ways to the stars.
~ William Croswell (W.C.) Doane, from Addresses To The Graduating Classes Of St. Agnes School (1891). Address to the Tenth Graduating Class (1881)

The way to succeed in industrial pursuits is to act so as to deserve success.
~ William Ellis, Progressive Lessons In Social Science (1850).

He that succeeds makes an important thing of the immediate task.
~ William Feather

Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.
~ William Feather

[T]he essentials of success are integrity of purpose and persistence in endeavor.
~ William Pierce Frye, in Leaders of Men, or, Types and Principles of Success, As Illustrated in the Lives and Careers of Famous Americans of the Present Day (1902). Chapter II

There is a time and a season for everything, and if a man does things according to the time, he will succeed.
~ William Delbert (W.D.) Gann, The Tunnel Thru the Air (1927).

[T]he success of any great moral enterprise does not depend upon numbers.
~ William Lloyd Garrison, from Selections from the Writings and Speeches of William Lloyd Garrison (1852). Letter to Honorable Peleg Sprague

Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning.
~ Bill Gates, Remarks by Bill Gates at Synergy '98 (8 July 1998).

Patience is a key element of success.
~ Bill Gates

Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose. And it's an unreliable guide to the future.
~ Bill Gates, The Road Ahead (1996).

Details often kill initiative, but there have been few successful men who weren't good at details. Don't ignore details. Lick them.
~ William B. Given, Jr., Bottom-up Management: People Working Together (1949).

If a person succeeds in giving and receiving love, and can do so with some consistency throughout his life, he is to some degree a success.
~ William Glasser, M.D., Schools Without Failure (1968).

[I]f there is a truth about people that no one can dispute, it is that success in any endeavor is directly proportional to how well the people who are involved in it get along with each other.
~ William Glasser, M.D., Choice Theory: A New Psychology of Personal Freedom (1998). Chapter 1: We Need a New Psychology

The man whose career shall ultimately be crowned with success, will demonstrate in the beginning that he was destined to succeed.
~ William Godwin, Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discoveries (1831). Essay XIV. Of Youth And Age

Fact: "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" is, no question, the most popular thing I've ever been connected with. When I die, if the Times gives me an obit, it's going to be because of Butch.
~ William Goldman, The Princess Bride (1973). Introduction

Life demands that you take risks if you're going to be successful. Be bold and believe in yourself.
~ Willie H. Gray, III, in Ebony magazine, Vol. LVI, No. 3 (January 2001). Top Jobs and Best Moves For The Class Of 2000/2001

The way to secure success, is to be more anxious about obtaining than about deserving it; the surest hindrance to it is to have too high a standard of refinement in our own minds, or too high an opinion of the discernment of the public.
~ William Hazlitt, from The Plain Speaker, Volume II (1826). Essay I. On The Qualifications Necessary to Success in Life

[T]o succeed in life, a man should carry about with him the outward and incontrovertible signs of success, and of his satisfaction with himself and his projects.
~ William Hazlitt, in New Monthly Magazine (December 1827). The Shyness of Scholars

Wherever there is a strong faculty for anything, the exercise of that faculty becomes its own end and reward, and produces an indifference or inattention to other things; so that the best security for success in the world is an incapacity for success in any other way.
~ William Hazlitt, in Sketches and Essays (1839). On Knowledge of the World (written in 1827)

'Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, try, try again.
If at first you don't succeed,
Try, try, try again.
~ William (W.E.) Hickson, from The Singing Master (1836). Perserverance -- or, Try Again

I'm always making a comeback, but nobody ever tells me where I've been.
~ Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues (1956 autobiography).

Success is good management in action.
~ William E. Holler

The trouble with success is that it is apt to leave life behind, or apart.
~ William Dean Howells, from Literature And Life (1902). The Young Contributor

You must overcome obstacles singly, and not look upon them en masse, for you will be discouraged if you do. Take one thing at a time, dispose of it, tackle the next thing and so on. Success comes slowly; it creeps.
~ Col. William C. Hunter

Once we find the fruits of success, the taste is nothing like what we had anticipated.
~ William Motter Inge, Four Plays (1990 edition). Foreward

In the long run nothing fails like ill-gotten success.
~ William Ralph (Dean) Inge, Personal Religion and the Life of Devotion (1924). Chapter IV. Hope

The moral flabbiness born of the exclusive worship of the bitch-goddess Success. That -- with the squalid cash interpretation put on the word success -- is our national disease.
~ William James, in The Letters of William James, Vol. 2 (1920). XV. Letter to H.G. Wells, 11 September 1906

Part of me is afraid to let go of this other thing, which was so hugely successful. But on the other hand, I have to move ahead, or else my feet are stuck in the cement. I feel like I'm capable of writing other kinds of music, and I'm at a transitional time in my life.
~ Billy Joel, Lecture at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA (20 March 1996).

Most people receive not and achieve not because they ask not and believe not.
~ Willie Jolley, It Only Takes A Minute To Change Your Life (1997). Chapter IV. As A Man Thinketh!

I ... like being successful. I somehow always knew that I would succeed. I had a great sense of destiny from the time I was very young.
~ Billie Jean King, Billie Jean (1975).

The penalty of success is to be bored by the attentions of people who formerly snubbed you.
~ Mary Wilson Little, from Reveries of a Paragrapher (1897). Solemn Thoughts

If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.
~ Bill Lyon

Our enthusiasm, if it continue undaunted by obstacles, unsubdued by defeats, is itself success, and the most glorious of all success.
~ William McCall, The Elements of Individualism: A Series of Lectures (1847). Lecture XXXIV. The Power of Enthusiasm

Every success I know has been reached because the person was able to analyze defeat and actually profit by it in his next undertaking.
~ William Moulten Marston, in The Forum (November 1937). Take Your Profits From Defeat

So with human talent. One, well cultivated, deepened and enlarged, is worth a hundred shallow faculties. The first law of success at this day, when so many things are clamoring for attention, is concentration -- to bend all the energies to one point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right nor to the left.
~ William Mathews, Getting on in the World: Or, Hints on Success in Life (1872). Chapter V: Concentration, Or Oneness of Aim

The secret of all success lies in being alive to what is going on around one; in adjusting one's self to his conditions; in being sympathetic and receptive; in knowing the wants of the time; in saying to one's fellows' what they want to hear, or what they need to hear, at the right moment; in being the sum, the concretion, the result, of the influences of the present time.
~ William Mathews, Getting on in the World: Or, Hints on Success in Life (1872). Chapter IX: Practical Talent

Whatever you will pay the price for, you can have in this world, -- that is the rule.
~ William Mathews, Getting on in the World; Or, Hints on Success in Life (1872). XXI. True and False Success

The common idea that success spoils people by making them vain, egotistic and self-complacent is erroneous -- on the contrary it makes them, for the most part, humble, tolerant and kind. It is failure that makes people bitter and cruel.
~ W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up (1938).

Not bad for a guy from Southie, right? Just remember, Kid, the news is your ticket.
~ Will McDonough, quoted in The Boston Globe (11 January 2003). Real story was about giving back

Six essential qualities that are the key to success: Sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, charity.
~ Dr. William C. Menninger

You're on the road to success when you realize that failure is merely a detour.
~ William G. Milnes, Jr., in The Saturday Evening Post

The gent who wakes up and finds himself a success hasn't been asleep.
~ Wilson Mizner

Success is not only pleasant: it is a duty.
~ William Henry Harrison (H.H.) Murray, from Park Street Pulpit (1871). Business Life -- Its Uses and Dangers

Nothing ever succeeds which exuberant spirits have not helped to produce.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1888). Preface

Success has always been a great liar.
~ Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (1885-86).

We are both great men, but I have succeeded better in keeping it a profound secret than he has.
~ (Edgar Wilson) "Bill" Nye, Bill Nye and Boomerang; Or, The Tale of a Meek-eyed Mule: And Some Other Literary Gems (1880). Two Great Men

But what success does do is to give a naturally unconfident person like myself a little more self-assurance, and that's why it's useful. In fact, its better than useful. It's wonderful, because it enables you to do better work.
~ William Orbit, Saturday Times (Interview; 4 December 1999). Mixed-up kid

Some people only have their finger in one pie and make a great success out of it, but I tend to get very restless very easily, so I stick my fingers in all the pies going.
~ William Orbit, in NME (15 September 1990). Trust William

The very first step towards success in any occupation is to become interested in it.
~ William Osler, from Aequanimitas: With Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practioners of Medicine (1904). XVIII. The Master-word in Medicine (University of Toronto; 1903)

To it, more than to anything else, I owe whatever success I have had -- to this power of settling down to the day's work and trying to do it to the best of one's ability, and letting the future take care of itself.
~ William Osler, from Aequanimitas: With Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practioners of Medicine (second edition; 1906). XXVII. L'Envoi

[T]he man who succeeds is never conceded the right to fail.
~ William Pickens, The Heir of Slaves (1911). IX. Yale -- The Henry James Ten Eyck Oratorical Contest

The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.
~ C. William Pollard, The Soul of the Firm (December 1996). Chapter Eleven: Learning iis Everybody's Business

The limousine is the ultimate ego trip, the supreme sign of success. It shouts: "Hey, this guy is really and truly Mr Big."
~ William Proxmire, in The New York Times (20 September 1985). Testimony to House Committee on Government Operations

A determinate purpose in life, and a steady adhesion to it through all disadvantages, are indispensable conditions of success.
~ William Morley (W.M.) Punshon, from Popular Preachers (1868).

The real merit is not in the success but in the endeavour, and win or lose, he will be honoured and crowned.
~ William Morley (W.M.) Punshon, Lecture Delivered Before the Young Men's Christian Association (17 January 1854). The Prophet of Horeb

There are dangers that come with successful careers. One can slide almost imperceptibly into a situation where the demands of the job are automatically accorded priority over other, more personal commitments.
~ William H. Rehnquist, Speech at Valparaiso University School of Law (21 May 1995).

What success I achieved in the theater is due to the fact that I have always worked just as hard when there were ten people in the house as when there were thousands. Just as hard in Springfield, Illinois as on Broadway.
~ Bill "Bojangles" Robinson

If you want to be successful, it's just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing.
~ Will Rogers

The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces.
~ Will Rogers

[W]hen you are satisfied, you are successful. For that's all there is to success is satisfaction.
~ Will Rogers, Politics and Jackie and a Certain Humorist (Weekly Article; 29 July 1928)

Success is not counted by how high you have climbed but by how many people you brought with you.
~ Dr. Wil Rose

To me, one of the most beautiful things to see is a group of men coordinating their efforts toward a common goal, alternately subordinating and asserting themselves to achieve real teamwork in action. I tried to do that, we all tried to do that, on the Celtics. I think we succeeded.
~ William Felton (Bill) Russell

The most successful column is one that causes the reader to throw down the paper in a peak of fit.
~ William L. Safire

Myself, I'm the kind of a guy who makes up his mind to do something, and then goes to work and does it. There's no other way a man can be a success at anything.
~ William Saroyan, The Time of Your Life (1939 play).

Friend, you are a success
If you can say:
"A heap of happiness
Has come my way.
No cheers have made me glad,
No wealth I've won;
But oh how I have had
A heap of FUN!"
~ Robert William Service, Carols of an Old Codger (1954). The Sum-up

A lot of football success is in the mind. You must believe you are the best and then make sure that you are.
~ Bill Shankly

Successful people are in a rut.
~ William Stafford, quoted in Early Morning: Remembering My Father, William Stafford (2002).

Try, try, try, and keep trying is the rule that must be followed to become an expert in anything.
~ William (W.) Clement Stone, The Success System That Never Fails (1962).

You will never leave scars on your own psyche if you achieve success through harmonious cooperation with others. That is something you can't say about fortunes acquired through conflict and unfair competition.
~ William (W.) Clement Stone, in Believe and Achieve: W. Clement Stone's 17 Principles of Success (1991).

Ah, yes! Success, I fear, has come too late!
~ William Wetmore Story, from Poems By William Wetmore Story (1885), Volume I. Parchments and Portraits. Girolamo, Detto il Fiorentino, Desponds and Abuses the World

Don't get chesty over success.
~ William A. "Billy" Sunday, from "Billy" Sunday, The Man and His Message (1914). Chapter III. A Base-Ball "Star"

Success in any endeavor requires single-minded attention to detail and total concentration.
~ William "Willie" Sutton, Where the Money Is: The Memoirs of a Bank Robber (1976).

Well, well, we can't be all roaring lions in this world; there must be SOME lambs, and harmless, kindly, gregarious creatures for eating and shearing.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, Mrs. Perkins's Ball (1847)

The highest success is achieved by making the most of one's powers and opportunities.
~ William Makepeace Thayer, Tact, Push, And Principle (1880). Chapter I. Success

Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing.
~ William Arthur Ward

The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.
~ William Arthur Ward

[I]t's worth recognizing that there is no such thing as an overnight success. You will do well to cultivate the resources in yourself that bring you happiness outside of success or failure. The truth is, most of us discover where we are headed when we arrive. At that time, we turn around and say, yes, this is obviously where I was going all along. It's a good idea to try to enjoy the scenery on the detours, because you'll probably take a few.
~ Bill Watterson, Speech at Kenyon College Commencement, Gambier, Ohio (20 May 1990). Some Thoughts on the Real World by One Who Glimpsed It and Fled

It is far from being true, in the progress of knowledge, that after every failure we must recommence from the beginning. Every failure is a step to success.
~ William Whewell, Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy in England (1852). Lecture VII

To succeed in any endeavor takes relentless belief in yourself. We have to be committed. We can determine our destiny.
~ Willye B. White, in Jet magazine, Vol. 79, No. 24 (1 April 1991).

For an actress to be a success, she must have the face of Venus, the brains of a Minerva, the grace of Terpsichore, the memory of a Macaulay, the figure of Juno, and the hide of a rhinoceros.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

We know this truth and yet we heed it not,
The secret of success is concentration.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from An Erring Woman's Love (1892). Concentration

I let them know that I believe that they can succeed, and I'm going to be there to help them.
~ Lenny Wilkens

Morale and attitude are the fundamental ingredients to success.
~ Bud Wilkinson

If you want to reach your goals, you need to have a plan of action. You have to stay focused on the things you can control, and don't get discouraged or distracted by the things you cannot control. ... You have to feel that every day you're getting closer and closer to where you need to be.
~ Bernie Williams, Commencement Address at Iona College, New Rochelle NY (21 May 2007).

People always told me that my natural ability and good eyesight were the reasons for my success as a hitter. They never talk about the practice, practice, practice.
~ Theodore Samuel ("Ted") Williams

Set your goal. Stay focused. And you'll succeed.
~ Theodore Samuel ("Ted") Williams

Luxury is the wolf at the door and its fangs are the vanities and conceits germinated by success. When an artist learns this, he knows where the danger is.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams

Success and failure are equally disastrous.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams

Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it. ... Success is shy -- it won't come out while you're watching.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams

Success is the sweetest revenge.
~ Vanessa Williams

How you make it in this world, for the most part, depends more on what you do as opposed to whether people like or dislike you. In order to produce a successful life, one must find ways to please his fellow man. That is, find out what goods and services his fellow man values, and is willing to pay for, and then acquire the necessary skills and education to provide it.
~ Walter E. Williams, in Jewish World Review (5 July 2007). Do People Care?

[M]orals are the memory of success that no longer succeeds.
~ William Carlos Williams, from In the American Grain (1925). Voyage of the Mayflower

Success means that we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others.
~ Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles (1992).

The secret of success is to realize that the crisis on our planet is much larger than just deciding what to do with your own life, and if the system under which we live the structure of western civilization begins to collapse because of our selfishness and greed, then it will make no difference whether you have $1 million dollars when the crash comes or just $1.00.
~ Marianne Williamson

This is the kind of jam session that cannot be shut down by a demon talking to me in profanity. But thank God, when I'm doing my job, that keeps me busy. I going to whup that racehorse's ass and lead myself to superstardom.
~ Wesley Willis, in Entertainment Weekly (3 May 1996). Guided by Voices

When you're hot, you're hot; when you're not, you're not.
~ Clerow "Flip" Wilson

Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.
~ Earl Wilson

The main essentials of a successful prime minister [are] sleep and a sense of history.
~ Harold Wilson, The Governance of Britain (1977).

Success in almost any field depends more on energy and drive than it does on intelligence. This explains why we have so many stupid leaders.
~ Sloan Wilson, in New York Magazine, v. 9, no. 21 (24 May 1976). Things I Learned in a Half Century Of Living