105 Success Quotes to Help You Achieve Greatness


new years motivational quotes

What’s the key to success? Is it hard work, motivation, tenacity or perhaps a good idea? Taking the sage advice of those who have already achieved success can be one of the best ways to accomplish it yourself.

If you’re looking for motivation to help you achieve greatness, use these motivational success quotes below to inspire your new daily affirmations.

Success Quotes to Inspire You Towards the Next Level

You must be very patient, very persistent. The world isn’t going to shower gold coins on you just because you have a good idea. You’re going to have to work like crazy to bring that idea to the attention of people. ~ Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines

If we win the hearts and minds of employees, we’re going to have better business success. ~ Mary Barra, General Motors

The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. ~ Warren Buffett, American Business Magnate

Just because you are a CEO, don’t think you have landed. You must continually increase your learning, the way you think, and the way you approach the organization. I’ve never forgotten that. ~ Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo

Find something that you love to do, and find a place that you really like to do it in. I found something I loved to do. I’m a mechanical engineer by training, and I loved it. I still do. My son is a nuclear engineer at MIT, a junior, and I get the same vibe from him. Your work has to be compelling. You spend a lot of time doing it. ~ Ursula Burns, Xerox

Success can be attained in any branch of human labor. There is always room at the top in every pursuit. ~ Andrew Carnegie, Industrialist

Growth and comfort do not coexist. ~ Ginni Rometty, IBM

I knew that if I failed, I wouldn’t regret that. But I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying. ~ Jeff Bezos, Amazon

We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes — understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success. ~ Arianna Huffington, The Huffington Post

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Leadership Success Quotes to Draw Inspiration

Success depends on effective leadership. The success quotes below offer inspiration from great established leaders.

I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. ~ Steve Jobs, Apple

Do what you love and success will follow. Passion is the fuel behind a successful career. ~ Meg Whitman, Quibi

The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.” ~ John D. Rockefeller Jr., American Financier

It is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results.”  ~ Warren Buffett, American Business Magnate

Before you are a leader, success is about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is about growing others. ~ Jack Welch, General Electric

Whenever I meet a successful CEO, I ask them how they did it. Mediocre CEOs point to their brilliant strategic moves or their intuitive business sense or a variety of other self-congratulatory explanations. The great CEOs tend to be remarkably consistent in their answers: They all say, ‘I didn’t quit.’ ~ Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz

Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success. ~ Biz Stone, Twitter

Stay hungry, stay foolish. ~ Steve Jobs, Apple

Impossible is only an opinion. ~ Anik Singal, Lurn Inc.

Even during a mid-life crisis do not deviate from your goal. History remembers only those who succeed. ~ Hockson Floin

I admire people who are very successful. But if that success has been achieved through too much ruthlessness, then I may admire that person, but I can’t respect him. ~ Ratan Tata, Tata Sons

Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. ~ Warren Buffett, American Business Magnate

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Motivational Quotes to Keep You Moving Forward

When it comes to achieving success, you can’t have too much help. These success quotes by those that have been there can provide the motivation needed to help you achieve your next goal.

I never dreamed about success. I worked for it. ~ Estée Lauder, Estée Lauder Cosmetics

I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. ~ G.K. Chesterton, English Writer

If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time. ~ Steve Jobs, Apple

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure. ~ Colin Powell, U.S. Army Four Star General (Retired)

Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable. ~ Coco Chanel, Chanel

There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them. ~ Seth Godin, American Author

I don’t know the word ‘quit.’ Either I never did, or I have abolished it. ~ Susan Butcher, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Winner

Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. ~ Will Rodgers, American Actor

The only way around is through. ~ Robert Frost, American Poet

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. ~ Albert Schweitzer, Theologian

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. ~ Walt Disney

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right! – Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company

I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. ~ Oprah Winfrey, Philanthropist

Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it. ~ William Durant, American Auto Industry Pioneer

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. ~ Thomas Edison, American Inventor

Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming. ~ Richard Branson, Virgin Group

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. ~ Henry David Thoreau, American Poet

None of us is as smart as all of us. ~ Ken Blanchard, The Ken Blanchard Companies

Motivational success quote

Success Quotes to Help You Keep it all Together

True leadership lies in guiding others to success–in ensuring that everyone is performing at their best, doing the work they are pledged to do and doing it well. ~ Bill Owens, American Photographer

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. ~ Peter Drucker, Author

Every time you have to speak, you are auditioning for leadership. ~ James Humes, Author

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. ~ Arnold Glasow, US Businessman

The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them. ~ John Maxwell, Author

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple and it is also that difficult. ~ Warren Bennis, Author

The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. ~ Ralph Nader, Political Activist

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. ~ Jack Welch, General Electric

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Success Quotes from Lessons Learned

On your journey towards greatness, there will be some stumbling blocks and failures along the way. These success quotes include insights to help you over those hurdles.

Its’ fine to celebrate success, but it’s more important to heed the lessons of failure. ~ Bill Gates, Microsoft

When you find an idea that you just can’t stop thinking about, that’s probably a good one to pursue. ~ Josh James, Omniture

Success depends on employees. For me knowing and connecting with my employees is very important. ~ Divine Ndhlukula, DDNS Security Operations Ltd

Make something people want, including making a company that people want to work for. ~ Sahil Lavingia, Gumroad

Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that. ~ Anthony Volodkin, Hype Machine

Always look for the fool in the deal. If you don’t find one, it’s you. ~ Mark Cuban, American Entrepreneur

If you hire only those people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don’t particularly like. ~ Soichiro Honda, Honda

If you define yourself by how you differ from the competition, you’re probably in trouble. ~ Omar Hamoui, AdMob

If you just work on stuff that you like and you’re passionate about, you don’t have to have a master plan with how things will play out. ~ Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

If you hire only those people you understand, the company will never get people better than you are. Always remember that you often find outstanding people among those you don’t particularly like. ~ Soichiro Honda, Honda

Every time we launch a feature, people yell at us. ~ Angelo Sotira, deviantART

Be courageous – Look for opportunities to put your hand up and have a go. Back yourself. ~ Gail Kelly, Westpac

Don’t take too much advice. Most people who have a lot of advice to give — with a few exceptions — generalize whatever they did. Don’t over-analyze everything.  I myself have been guilty of over-thinking problems. Just build things and find out if they work. ~ Ben Silbermann, Pinterest

Chase the vision, not the money, the money will end up following you. ~ Tony Hsieh, Zappos

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. ~ Bill Gates, Microsoft

Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.” ~ Jack Dorsey, Twitter

There is no greater thing you can do with your life and your work than follow your passions – in a way that serves the world and you. ~ Richard Branson, Virgin Group

Get five or six of your smartest friends in a room and ask them to rate your idea. ~ Mark Pincus, Zynga

Your employees come first. And if you treat your employees right, guess what? Your customers come back, and that makes your shareholders happy. Start with employees and the rest follows from that. ~ Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines

If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late. ~ Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. ~ Steve Jobs, Apple

Always deliver more than expected. ~ Larry Page, Google

What do you need to start a business? Three simple things: know your product better than anyone, know your customer, and have a burning desire to succeed. ~ Dave Thomas, Wendy’s

Always think outside the box and embrace opportunities that appear, wherever they might be. ~ Lakshmi Mittal, ArcelorMittal

Get big quietly, so you don’t tip off potential competitors. ~ Chris Dixon, Andreessen Horowitz

Motivational Quote about success

Inspirational Quotes from those that Have Been There

Reading the right words can go a long way in lifting your spirits. If you fancy your chances in the ever changing world of entrepreneurship, these success quotes can inspire you to great new heights.

Entrepreneur is someone who has a vision for something and a want to create. ~ David Karp, Tumblr

In the end, a vision without the ability to execute it is probably a hallucination. ~ Steve Case, AOL

Empower yourself and realize the importance of contributing to the world by living your talent. Work on what you love. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you. ~ Catharina Bruns, WorkIsNotaJob

It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. ~ Scott Belsky, Behance

I don’t look to jump over 7-foot bars — I look for 1-foot bars that I can step over. ~ Warren Buffett, American Business Magnate

The important thing is not being afraid to take a chance. Remember, the greatest failure is to not try. Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it. ~  Debbi Fields, Mrs. Fields Cookies

Don’t let others convince you that the idea is good when your gut tells you it’s bad. ~ Kevin Rose, Digg

Everything started as nothing. ~ Ben Weissenstein, The Entitled Group

Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical. ~ Howard Schultz, Starbucks

Don’t be afraid to assert yourself, have confidence in your abilities and don’t let the bastards get you down. ~ Michael Bloomberg, Bloomberg L.P.

Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve. ~ Mary Kay Ash, Mary Kay Cosmetics

You have to see failure as the beginning and the middle, but never entertain it as an end.  ~ Jessica Herrin, Stella & Dot

The only thing worse than starting something and failing… is not starting something. ~ Seth Godin, Squidoo

When you are building a startup, it’s difficult. Particularly, a startup that is expanding at the rate of Tinder. You have to give 100%, and you have to be committed. Solving the problem has to be personal or else you’re going to disintegrate. ~ Sean Rad, Tinder, Inc.

If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn’t have been able to think of a good idea. You just have to find the solution for a problem in your own life. ~ Brian Chesky, Airbnb

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I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody. ~ Herbert Swope, American Journalist

Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish. ~ Sam Walton, Walmart

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. ~ John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States

Great leaders are willing to sacrifice the numbers to save the people. Poor leaders sacrifice the people to save the numbers. ~ Simon Sinek, Author

Management is focusing on getting someone to get a result. Leadership is producing a standard in someone that when you’re gone, they will live by to produce higher level results consistently. ~ Tony Robbins, Life Coach

Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. ~ Woodrow Wilson, American Politician

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. ~ Warren Bennis, American Scholar

Don’t find fault, find a remedy. ~ Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company

Leadership is knowing when to lean on others and let them step up and shine. ~ Michelle Peluso, Gilt

Conclusion

In the pursuit of success, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. It’s a blend of hard work, determination, motivation, and good ideas that propels individuals forward. Often, the wisdom of those who have already walked the path to success can serve as a guiding light on your own journey.

These motivational success quotes offer valuable insights and inspiration. They remind us that success isn’t merely handed out; it’s earned through dedication, innovation, and resilience. Each quote encapsulates a different facet of the road to success, whether it’s the importance of perseverance, the significance of passion, or the wisdom of learning from failure.

Leadership, too, plays a pivotal role in the journey to success. Effective leadership isn’t just about personal achievement; it’s about empowering others to thrive. These quotes underscore the idea that true leadership involves lifting others up and fostering their growth.

Additionally, these quotes serve as a reminder that success is often a result of taking risks, pursuing passions, and pushing boundaries. They encourage us to stay focused on our goals, embrace failure as a stepping stone to success, and remain adaptable in an ever-changing world.

Ultimately, these success quotes are more than just words; they are guiding principles that can motivate and empower you to reach new heights. As you navigate your own path to success, remember the lessons shared by those who have already walked that road – because success, in the end, is not just about the destination but the journey itself.

Success IngredientsBlend of hard work, determination, motivation, and good ideas.
Wisdom from SuccessLearning from those who have achieved success.
Components of SuccessDedication, innovation, and resilience.
Leadership in SuccessEmpowering others to thrive and fostering growth.
Embracing Risk and ChangeTaking risks, pursuing passions, and pushing boundaries.
Focus and AdaptabilityStaying focused on goals, embracing failure as a stepping stone, and remaining adaptable.
Guiding PrinciplesMotivating

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Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a staff writer for Small Business Trends and has been a member of the team for 7 years. She is based in the United Kingdom and since 2006, Gabrielle has been writing articles, blogs and news pieces for a diverse range of publications and sites. You can read "Gabrielle’s blog here.".