Who would attain to summits still and fair,
Must nerve himself through valleys of despair.Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850-1919) American author, poet, temperance advocate, spiritualist
Poem (1906), “Climbing,” ll. 9-10, New Thought Pastels
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Quotations about:
attainment
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Getting what you go after is success; but liking it while you are getting it is happiness.
Bertha Damon (1881-1975) American humorist, author, lecturer, editor [Bertha Clark Pope Damon]
A Sense of Humus, ch. 13 “Garden Sass” (1943)
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COMMENDATION, n. The tribute that we pay to achievements that resemble, but do not equal, our own.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Commendation,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
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Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911). Originally published in the "Devil's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Wasp (1881-08-05).
Once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.
Malcolm Gladwell (b. 1963) Anglo-Canadian journalist, author, public speaker
Outliers: The Story of Success, ch. 2 “The 10,000 Hour Rule,” sec. 2 (2008)
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There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart’s desire. The other is to get it.
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Man and Superman, Act 4 [Mendoza] (1903)
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See Wilde, eleven years earlier. More discussion quote: There Are Only Two Tragedies. One Is Not Getting What One Wants, and the Other Is Getting It – Quote Investigator.
Is there anything in life so disenchanting as attainment?
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
“The Adventure of the Hansom Cabs” (1878)
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What you get by reaching your goals is not nearly so important as what you become by reaching them.
Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar (1926-2012) American author, salesperson, motivational speaker
Biscuits, Fleas, and Pump Handles (1974)
Ziglar used multiple variations of this phrase. Also attributed to Goethe and Thoreau. For more discussion see here.
