100 Truly Inspirational Success Quotes From Great Leaders

Once in a while, we all need a spark of energy to help us walk the path towards success. And inspirational success quotes from those who have already taken this journey will remind you that success is achievable.

Language has given us the medium to share our experiences and wisdom with the world. The best part is that we can leave our legacy by documenting our life’s journeys.

Leaders of our times are doing the same, and we can't thank them enough. They often share uplifting and inspiring quotes and thoughts that have helped us get through tough times.

Here’s a compilation of the most exquisite success quotes that gave us a push. And we’re sure they’ll work like magic for you too!

1. Winston S. Churchill

Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.
~ Winston S. Churchill

2. Ratan Tata

I don't believe in taking right decisions, I take decisions and make them right.
~ Ratan Tata

3. Colin R. Davis

The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.
~ Colin R. Davis

4. Steve Jobs

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

5. Barack Obama

The real test is not whether you avoid this failure because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.
~ Barack Obama

6. T. Krishnamacharya

No one is wise by birth, for wisdom results from one own’s efforts.
~ T. Krishnamacharya

7. Franklin D. Roosevelt

The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

8. Henry David Thoreau

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

9. Chris Grosser

Opportunities don't happen. You create them.
~ Chris Grosser

10. John D. Rockefeller

Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.
~ John D. Rockefeller

11. Harivansh Rai Bacchan

Remember, no one is stopping you from lighting a lamp in a dark night. – Harivansh Rai Bacchan

12. Thomas Jefferson

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.
~ Thomas Jefferson

13. Ray Goforth

There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.
~ Ray Goforth

14. Jim Rohn

Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don't wish it were easier; wish you were better.
~ Jim Rohn

15. Helen Keller

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
~ Helen Keller

16. Thomas J. Watson

Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that's where you will find success.
~ Thomas J. Watson

17. Tony Hsieh

Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.
~ Tony Hsieh

18. G. K. Chesterton

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

19. Anonymous

The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do.
~ Anonymous

20. Michael John Bobak

All progress takes place outside the comfort zone.
~ Michael John Bobak

Also read: 50 Handpicked Quotes On Productivity From Successful People Around The World

21. Tony Robbins

People who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed. Similarly, when someone is failing, the tendency is to get on a downward spiral that can even become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
~ Tony Robbins

22. Robert Kiyosaki

Don't let the fear of losing be greater than the excitement of winning.
~ Robert Kiyosaki

23. Walt Disney

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

24. Bruce Lee

The successful warrior is the average man, with laser~like focus.
~ Bruce Lee

25. Colin Powell

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

26. Conrad Hilton

Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
~ Conrad Hilton

27. Herbert Bayard Swope

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

28. Albert Schweitzer

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

29. Anonymous

Success isn't just about what you accomplish in your life; it's about what you inspire others to do.
~ Anonymous

30. Japanese Proverb

Fall seven times and stand up eight.
~ Japanese Proverb

31. Anonymous

Some people dream of success while others wake up and work.
~ Anonymous

32. Anonymous

The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.
~ Anonymous

33. David Brinkley

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that other throw at him.
~ David Brinkley

34. Bill Cosby

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
~ Bill Cosby

35. Nikos Kazantzakis

In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.
~ Nikos Kazantzakis

36. Thomas Edison

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

37. Zig Ziglar

Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember~the only taste of success some people get is to take a bite out of you.
~ Zig Ziglar

38. John D. Rockefeller Jr.

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

39. Oprah Winfrey

You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job, and not be paid for it.
~ Oprah Winfrey

40. Anthony Robbins

There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that, once unleashed, can make any vision, dream, or desire a reality.
~ Anthony Robbins

Also read: 105 Famous Work Ethic Quotes to Boost Employee Morale

41. Aristotle Onassis

The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows.
~ Aristotle Onassis

42. Estee Lauder

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

43. Vidal Sassoon

The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.
~ Vidal Sassoon

44. Charles F. Kettering

Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.
~ Charles F. Kettering

45. John Wooden

Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.
~ John Wooden

46. Swami Vivekananda

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life–think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
~ Swami Vivekananda

47. Proverb

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.
~ Proverb

48. Vaibhav Shah

Whenever you see a successful person you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.
~ Vaibhav Shah

49. Eleanor Roosevelt

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

50. Kim Garst

If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents–start charging for it.
~ Kim Garst

51. Henry Ford

The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what is one’s destiny to do, and then do it.
~ Henry Ford

52. Anonymous

Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.
~ Anonymous

53. Oscar Wilde

What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.
~ Oscar Wilde

54. Anonymous

The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.
~ Anonymous

55. Bruce Feirstein

The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.
~ Bruce Feirstein

56. Lolly Daskal

When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you.
~ Lolly Daskal

57. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life.
~ A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

58. Napoleon Hill

The starting point of all achievement is desire.
~ Napoleon Hill

59. Robert Collier

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out.
~ Robert Collier

60. Philippos

You may only succeed if you desire succeeding; you may only fail if you do not mind failing.
~ Philippos

Also read: 150 Leadership Quotes To Inspire The Leader Within You

61. Mark Twain

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear–not absence of fear.
~ Mark Twain

62. Pablo Picasso

Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.
~ Pablo Picasso

63. Earl Nightingale

We become what we think about most of the time, and that’s the strangest secret.
~ Earl Nightingale

64. Abraham Lincoln

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
~ Abraham Lincoln

65. Albert Einstein

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
~ Albert Einstein

66. Vince Lombardi

Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there.
~ Vince Lombardi

67. Les Brown

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.
~ Les Brown

68. Martha Stewart

I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing.
~ Martha Stewart

69. Anonymous

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.
~ Anonymous

70. Ralph Nader

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

71. Maya Angelou

Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.
~ Maya Angelou

72. Bill Gates

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.
~ Bill Gates

73. Henry Kravis

A real entrepreneur is somebody who has no safety net underneath them.
~ Henry Kravis

74. Kunal Shah

If you fully accept the worst that can ever happen in your journey, fear won’t ever be an obstacle in starting-up
~ Kunal Shah

75. Azim Premji

If people are not laughing at your goals, your goals are too small
~ Azim Premji

76. Anonymous

Trust because you are willing to accept the risk, not because it’s safe or certain.
~ Anonymous

77. Margaret Thatcher

You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.
~ Margaret Thatcher

78. John R. Wooden

Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
~ John R. Wooden

79. Truman Capote

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
~ Truman Capote

80. Washington Irving

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above it.
~ Washington Irving

Also read: 30 Thought-Provoking Company Culture Quotes

81. Spencer Johnson

What would you do if you weren’t afraid.
~ Spencer Johnson

82. Herman Melville

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
~ Herman Melville

83. Theodore N. Vail

Real difficulties can be overcome; it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable.
~ Theodore N. Vail

84. Booker T. Washington

You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals.
~ Booker T. Washington

85. Dale Carnegie

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no help at all.
~ Dale Carnegie

86. Anatole France

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.
~ Anatole France

87. Wayne Dyer

Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.
~ Wayne Dyer

88. John C. Maxwell

Success is … knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others.
~ John C. Maxwell

89. George Lorimer

You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.
~ George Lorimer

90. Francis Chan

Our greatest fear should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.
~ Francis Chan

91. Ella Wheeler Wilcox

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

92. Jim Ryun

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
~ Jim Ryun

93. Michael Jordan

You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.
~ Michael Jordan

94. Diane Ackerman

I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.
~ Diane Ackerman

95. George Bernard Shaw

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. ~ George Bernard Shaw

96. Jane Smiley

In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it.
~ Jane Smiley

97. Denis Waitley

The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.
~ Denis Waitley

98. Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by, and that made all the difference.
~ Robert Frost

99. T. Harv Eker

If you want to make a permanent change, stop focusing on the size of your problems and start focusing on the size of you!
~ T. Harv Eker

100. Gurbaksh Chahal

If you genuinely want something, don’t wait for it–teach yourself to be impatient.
~ Gurbaksh Chahal

Also read: 35 Best Quotes About Creativity To Inspire Employees

Wrapping up

There is no definite recipe for success, but a dash of motivation and a pinch of zeal can take you a long way.

Success may be anything you choose it to be, so go and seek it. And as Napoleon Hill said, “You can be anything you want to be, if only you believe with sufficient conviction and act in accordance with your faith; for whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

After reading our collection of all the most notable success quotes, we hope you're as fired up as we are!