43 Anonymous Quotes About Success

Success may mean something different to all of us. But one thing we all have in common is that we want to be successful. How do we get there?

Hard work of course. But it’s also important to have the mindset and prospective for success.

We hear so many inspirational quotes by famous, successful people such as Steve Jobs, Mark Twain, Henry Ford, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Maya Angelou, Walt Disney, and Michael Jordan (just to name a few!) but there are many other anonymous quotes about success, and the only thing that differentiates them is that we don’t know who said them.

We may not know who exactly said these quotes about success, but sometimes a motivational quote or two is the best way to get you hyped.

43 Anonymous Quotes About Success

• “If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission.”

• “If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.”

• “Our future accomplishments are determined entirely by how every second in our life is put to a use the future is the cumulation of many now.”

• “There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs. “

• “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.”

• “Trust because you are willing to accept the risk, not because it’s safe or certain.”

• “Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.”

• “Do one thing every day that scares you.”

• “The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

• “Good things come to people who wait, but better things come to those who go out and get them.”

• “No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.”

• “Knowledge is being aware of what you can do. Wisdom is knowing when not to do it.”

• “Your problem isn’t the problem. Your reaction is the problem.”

• “Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.”

• “What’s the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable.”

• “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”

• “A good rule for going through life is to keep the heart a little softer than the head.”

• “Happiness walks on busy feet.”

• “Persistence gives confidence and continued right mental attitude followed by consistent action will bring success. When you have that knowing inside of you, fear has vanished and the obstruction to a life of all good removed.”

• “The giant oak is an acorn that held its ground.”

• “Successful entrepreneurs are givers and not takers of positive energy.”

• “Persistence gives confidence and continued right mental attitude followed by consistent action will bring success. When you have that knowing inside of you, fear has vanished and the obstruction to a life of all good removed.”

• “Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.”

• “Never let your doubt blind your goals, for your future lies in your ability, not your failure.”

• “Blessed is the man who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.”

• “Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.”

• “You can do anything, but not everything.”

• “Life is like a piano. Anyone can play a song through meaningless repetition, but it takes passion to play a masterpiece.”

• “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

• “Anyone can give up–it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when the rest of the world would understand if you fell apart… that’s true strength.”

• “Some people lose sight of the fact that of two evils, it isn’t necessary to choose either.”

• ““I can’t” is a coward, “I’ll try” is a soldier, “I will” is a king.”

• “Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body— but rather a skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow, what a ride!’”

• “Don’t go into something to test the waters, go into things to make waves.”

• “Your only limitation is your imagination.”

• “Every person I work with knows something better than me. My job is to listen long enough to find it and use it.”

• “If you think twice before you speak once, you will speak better for it.”

• “Babe Ruth hit more home runs than anyone; he also struck out more often than anyone.”

• “Character is defined by what we are willing to do when the spotlight has been turned off, when the applause has died down, and no one is around to give us credit.”

• “Never let defeat have the last word.”

• “The winner always has a plan; The loser always has an excuse.”

• “A mistake should be your teacher, not your attacker. A mistake is a lesson, not a loss. It is a temporary, necessary detour, not a dead end.”

• “Leadership usually gravitates to a person who can say what he thinks.”

• “Sometimes the most proactive thing we can do is to be happy — just to genuinely smile. Happiness, like unhappiness, is a proactive choice.”

You don’t have to be a famous successful man (or woman) to make a big difference. The first step to doing great things is to start. And a lot of people never start because of the fear of failure.

What if Ralph Waldo Emerson worried about what other people thought about his writing? Or if Pablo Picasso didn’t go through his blue period because he didn’t want to try and fail at something new. Or if Muhammad Ali never stepped into the ring? 

We all face tough times, and sometimes a little thing can really hold us back. The worst thing would be to never start, or to let the negative thoughts hold you back. Surround yourself with the right people, who will lend a word of encouragement or help you avoid a downward spiral. And if you don’t have someone in your daily life, use these quotes to help you navigate your own destiny.

There is no right time to start something, and big things aren’t accomplished overnight. The important thing for success is to try, to get up again when you fail, to embrace failure and see it as learning. At the end of the day, a lot of ordinary people who left their comfort zone turned into big successes.

What’s your favorite quote about success? Share it with us in the comments below! 

About the Author

Michelle graduated from Fordham University with a Bachelors of Arts ’13 and a Master of Arts ’14. She is currently working on social media and event planning in the nonprofit world while blogging on the side about the Mets. Her interests include The Mets, The Patriots, iced coffee, Greece, and escaping to tropical islands. Her long term career goal is to continue to share her story and experiences to help as many people as she can.