100 Success Quotes to Inspire Action, Focus, and Your Next Big Win
- The Finest List Maker
- Apr 18
- 7 min read
Success means different things to different people, but one thing’s universal: the journey takes courage, focus, resilience, and belief in yourself. Whether you're chasing a goal, building a dream, or just trying to push through a tough week, the right words can remind you of why you started.
This handpicked list of 100 success quotes delivers encouragement, wisdom, and fire. Straight from entrepreneurs, philosophers, athletes, and visionaries who’ve lived it. Let these quotes fuel your ambition and help you define success on your own terms.
Table of Contents
Famous Success Quotes
Short Success Quotes
Inspirational Success Quotes
Success Quotes About Failure
Success Quotes for Students
Success Quotes for Entrepreneurs
Success Quotes from Historical Figures
Success Quotes from Athletes & Coaches
Success Quotes from Business Leaders
Quotes About Redefining Success
How to Use Success Quotes in Your Life
Frequently Asked Questions
Best 100 Success Quotes
1. Famous Success Quotes
These legendary quotes have become go-to mantras for millions. They capture what it really takes to succeed.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill
“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” — Estée Lauder
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” — Henry David Thoreau
“The secret of success is to do the common thing uncommonly well.” — John D. Rockefeller Jr.
“Opportunities don't happen. You create them.” — Chris Grosser
“Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” — Dale Carnegie
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” — John D. Rockefeller
“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” — Thomas Jefferson
“Success isn’t about how much money you make. It’s about the difference you make in people’s lives.” — Michelle Obama
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” — Maya Angelou
2. Short Success Quotes
When you need something quick but powerful, these quotes deliver motivation in just a few words.
“Dream big. Start small. Act now.”
“Success is a decision.”
“Hustle in silence.”
“Progress, not perfection.”
“Winners are just persistent losers.”
“Start. Even if it’s messy.”
“Success starts with self-belief.”
“Every step counts.”
“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” — Steve Jobs
“Small wins build big success.”
3. Inspirational Success Quotes
These uplifting quotes encourage you to keep going, even when the odds are stacked.
“Success is not how high you have climbed, but how you make a positive difference to the world.” — Roy T. Bennett
“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” — Suzy Kassem
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt
“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” — Jim Rohn
“Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.”“The future depends on what you do today.” — Mahatma Gandhi
“Work hard in silence, let success make the noise.”
“Sometimes we're tested not to show our weaknesses, but to discover our strengths.”
“You didn’t come this far to only come this far.”
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” — Jim Rohn
4. Success Quotes About Failure
Because failure is often part of the path to success, these quotes help you keep going.
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” — Thomas Edison
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” — Robert F. Kennedy
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” — Henry Ford
“Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” — Napoleon Hill
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” — Japanese Proverb
“The phoenix must burn to emerge.” — Janet Fitch
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” — Truman Capote
“Behind every successful person, there are a lot of unsuccessful years.” — Bob Brown
“You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let it stop you.”
5. Success Quotes for Students
Perfect for those in school, graduating, or preparing for exams, these quotes speak to focus, learning, and future success.
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” — Robert Collier
“The expert in anything was once a beginner.”
“Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” — Sam Levenson
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” — Malcolm X
“Your education is a dress rehearsal for a life that is yours to lead.” — Nora Ephron
“If you study to remember, you will forget. But if you study to understand, you will remember.”
“Success in school starts with believing you can.”
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then do better.” — Maya Angelou
“Stay curious, not just compliant.”
“Smart is not something you are. It’s something you become.”
6. Success Quotes for Entrepreneurs
Whether you’re building a brand or launching a side hustle, these quotes keep the entrepreneurial fire burning.
“Don’t wait for opportunity. Create it.”
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” — Alan Kay
“Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.” — Unknown
“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk.” — Mark Zuckerberg
“Success isn’t about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.” — Scott Belsky
“If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.” — Reid Hoffman
“Every big business was once a side hustle.”
“Success begins at the edge of your comfort zone.”
“Stop doubting. Start building.”
7. Success Quotes from Historical Figures
These wise words from the past still hold true and fuel the future.
“Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.” — George S. Patton
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” — Albert Einstein
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” — Aristotle
“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking.” — William Butler Yeats
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” — Thomas Paine
"Well done is better than well said.” — Benjamin Franklin
“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” — Confucius
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” — William James
"You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
8. Success Quotes from Athletes & Coaches
Discipline, resilience, and mental toughness these quotes capture it all.
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” — Wayne Gretzky
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” — Tim Notke
“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” — Vince Lombardi
“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” — Billie Jean King
“You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.” — Michael Phelps
"Winning means you're willing to go longer, work harder, and give more than anyone else.” — Vince Lombardi
“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” — Lance Armstrong
“Success isn't always about greatness. It's about consistency.” — Dwayne Johnson
“The only way to prove you are a good sport is to lose.” — Ernie Banks
"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” — Michael Jordan
9. Success Quotes from Business Leaders
These insights come from the top people who’ve built empires and mastered mindset.
“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
“Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” — Coco Chanel
“Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you.” — Tony Hsieh
“You can have excuses or results. Not both.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.” — Howard Schultz
“Play by the rules, but be ferocious.” — Phil Knight
“If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to build theirs.” — Tony Gaskins
“If something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” — Elon Musk
“Move fast and break things. Unless you are breaking stuff, you are not moving fast enough.” — Mark Zuckerberg
“Surround yourself with people who push you to be better.”
10. Quotes About Redefining Success
Success isn’t always about hustle, it’s also about balance, meaning, and joy.
“Success is not in what you have, but who you are.” — Bo Bennett
“I measure success by how many people love me.” — Warren Buffett
“Success is being able to go to bed each night with your soul at peace.” — Paulo Coelho
“Success is a journey, not a destination.” — Arthur Ashe
“It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” — Seneca
“Success is when you can do what you love and make a living from it.”
“Sometimes success is just surviving with a smile.”
“Success is freedom to live life on your own terms.”
“True success is loving what you do and how you live.”
“Success is showing up—every day.”
11. How to Use Success Quotes in Your Life
Want to stay motivated? Here’s how to put these quotes to good use:
Morning routines – Read one daily as a mindset boost
Wall prints – Put them where you hustle
Vision boards – Match words with your goals
Emails & presentations – Start with a powerful quote
Journaling prompts – Reflect on one each week
12. Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the best quote about success?
There’s no single “best” quote—just the one that speaks to your values and stage in life. That said: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal” hits home for many.
2. Can I use success quotes for work or business?
Yes! Use them in presentations, team meetings, vision decks, or on social media to inspire your colleagues or audience.
3. What counts as success?
That’s up to you. Success can mean wealth, freedom, happiness, health, or contribution. The key is to define it—and then pursue it—on your own terms.
