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?
Throughout my chess career I sought out new challenges, looking for things no one had done before.
Our first duty, to which every other consideration should be sacrificed, is not to be poor.
Fame doesn't fulfill you. It warms you a bit, but that warmth is temporary.
Meditation more than anything in my life was the biggest ingredient of whatever success I've had.
I did everything by the numbers. I had checklists upon checklists. If I wasn't ahead of everybody on my team, I didn't feel I was doing my job.
If the company depends entirely on you - your creativity, ingenuity, inspiration, salesmanship or charisma - nobody will want to buy it. The risk and the dependency are too great.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.