21 Great Quotes on Success

Success is the attainment of some goal. Simple, right? Not really—there are several nuances to success, and there are countless definitions for success and systems for achieving it.

Here are 21 quotations about success—what it is and isn’t, and how to attain it.

Wisdom and practical advice from authors, speakers, and leaders including Jim Rohn, John C. Maxwell, Zig Ziglar, Stephen Covey, Brian Tracy, Ken Blanchard, Dale Carnegie, Barbara Bush, Earl Nightingale, Wayne Dyer, and Colin Powell.

Comment below if any of these are also among your favorites, or share one or two of your choice success quotes. #17, from the wisdom of Zig Ziglar, is one of mine.

1. "Develop success from failure. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success." -Dale Carnegie.

2. “The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.” -Zig Ziglar.

3. "There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." -Colin Powell.

4. "The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear." -Brian Tracy.

5. "Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people - your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way." -Barbara Bush.

6. "The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority." -Ken Blanchard.

7. "Picture yourself in your mind’s eye as having already achieved this goal. See yourself doing the things you’ll be doing when you’ve reached your goal." -Earl Nightingale.

8. "For true success ask yourself these four questions: Why? Why not? Why not me? Why not now?" -James Allen.

9. "Self-trust is the first secret of success." -Ralph Waldo Emerson.

10. "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.

11. "The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda." -John C. Maxwell.

12. "To achieve goals you’ve never achieved before you need to start doing things you’ve never done before." -Stephen Covey.

13. "The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge." -Napoleon Hill.

14. "For success, attitude is equally as important as ability." -Sir Walter Scott.

15. "The secret to success is good leadership, and good leadership is all about making the lives of your team members or workers better." -Tony Dungy.

16. "If you believe it will work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you believe it won’t, you will see obstacles." -Wayne Dyer.

17. "Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be." -Zig Ziglar.

18. "Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." -Henry David Thoreau.

19. "Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence." -Colin Powell.

20. “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” -Thomas Edison.

 21. “Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.” -Jim Rohn.

■ Gary J. Lanham is the Senior Content Analyst in the Learning Group (L&D) at OneMain Financial and an experienced manager, trainer, and speaker. He received his B.S. in Business Administration and M.B.A. from Winthrop University where he is currently pursuing an M.Ed. in Learning Design and Technologies. Gary volunteers as a mentor in the Mentoring Business Minds program at Winthrop's College of Business Administration.

Follow Gary on LinkedIn or Twitter @GaryJLanham. Follow #GJLposts to see Gary’s variety of inspiring, motivating, challenging, and enlightening content published each week.

You can see Gary's LinkedIn content here.

Check out Gary’s 7 Favorite Quotes series with famous quotes and his commentary. Read them here.

Keywords: #achievement #goals #influence #learning #persistence #planning #quotes #success