I always wonder why other people are more successful than me. Are they more capable? More educated? More hardworking? Smarter? … etc. Some may be; some may be not, at least on the surface. But for sure, there must be a reason why. This is why I’m constantly searching for the answer and am interested in people’s lives. How do they live their life? What kinds of attitude do they hold toward life, success, money, … etc.? I know I cannot generalize an answer in one word, one sentence, one paragraph, or one article. Everyone’s life is unique, and many unique things that happen to each unique person make him or her a successful living being. There must be things collectively acting in favor of his or her life at the right timing or place, and he/she seizes the opportunity to allow things to happen into their life. It’s a matter of choice.

Obviously, no one wants to be a failure. Everyone wants to be successful in something. No one wants to feel like he or she is only good for nothing. Everyone must have a value, a value to contribute to our life, our family, our society. If he doesn’t contribute a thing, what value is there that he/she has? True, being a human being is valuable enough. True, life itself is valuable enough. But, like a tree, life must bear fruits. If a tree does not bear fruits or sucks our carbon dioxide and releases oxygen for us, what good does it bring? What is the purpose of its existence? It exists to only take, waste, occupy space! Am I right or not? That’s my belief.

Now, talking about success, is life supposed to be a successful life? What is success? The more money/fame we get, the more successful we think we are? We all must admit, money does have its purpose. It has a value. It makes us feel more secure about our future. …. Money in itself is good. It’s not the root of evil. Whether it’s evil depends on how we use it and how we get it!!

I like quotes. I always want to know how those “successful people” in our eyes think about life, success, money, … etc. They come with nothing and leave with nothing but success, influence, … in people’s lives.

Let’s hear what they said about success.

Albert Einstein said: Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.

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

Benjamin Franklin said: There are no gains without pains.

Bernadette Devlin: Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win.

Corita Kent said: Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.

Havelock Ellis said: It is on our failures that we base a new and different and better success.

Henry Ford said: If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right.

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

James A. Froude said: You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.

Lloyd Jones said: Those who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try nothing and succeed.

Louis L’Amour said: Nobody got anywhere in the world by simply being content.

Margaret Mead said: I must admit that I personally measure success in terms of the contributions an individual makes to her or his fellow human beings.

Maya Lin said: To fly, we have to have resistance.

Pearl S. Buck said: The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said: Self-trust is the first secret of success.

Robert F. Kennedy said: Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

Samuel Smiles said: It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done.

Thomas Alva Edison said: Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Vince Lombardi said: Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.

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

William Saroyan said: Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know.

I guess no one would disagree what they said as they have lived it and are living (influencing) in people’s lives.