Men talk as if victory were something fortunate. Work is victory.
Interpretation
Victory comes from hard work rather than mere luck.
In this quote, Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes that true success and victory are the results of consistent effort and diligence, rather than mere chance or fortune. He suggests that individuals should find value and glory in the work they put into their endeavors, as this is the essence of achieving meaningful accomplishments.
In practice
During a graduation speech to inspire students about the value of hard work.
It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
Men cease to interest us when we find their limitations
Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read amiss: in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakeably meant for his ear.
The world belongs to the energetic.
Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Failure, failure is so important, it doesn’t get spoken about enough, we speak about success all the time.
The truth is that I don't have a favourite goal. I remember important goals more than I do favourite goals, like goals in the Champions League where I had the opportunity to have scored in both finals I have played in. Finals in the World Cup or Copa del Rey are the ones that have stayed with me for longer or that I remember more.
Truly, “thoughts are things,” and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire for their translation into riches, or other material objects.
If you start today to do the right thing, you are already a success even if it doesn’t show yet.
If you want to establish an international presence you can't do so from New York. You need the consecration of Paris.
The best part of being an angel investor is seeing these kids coming up with companies that get way more traffic than Reddit had when we sold it. I think, 'Are you kidding me? They're just kids, and they've done so much.
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