The secret of success is that it is not the absence of failure, but the absence of envy.
Interpretation
Success comes from focusing on one's own journey rather than feeling envious of others' achievements.
This quote by Herodotus suggests that the true key to success is not merely avoiding failures, but rather maintaining a mindset free from envy. It emphasizes the importance of being content with one's own progress and achievements, rather than comparing oneself to others, which can distract and detract from personal growth and fulfillment.
In practice
In a motivational speech to encourage students before their exams.
The Scythians take kannabis seed, creep in under the felts, and throw it on the red-hot stones. It smolders and sends up such billows of steam-smoke that no Greek vapor bath can surpass it. The Scythians howl with joy in these vapor-baths, which serve them instead of bathing, for they never wash their bodies with water.
The man who has planned badly, if fortune is on his side, may have had a stroke of luck; but his plan was a bad one nonetheless.
Men trust their ears less than their eyes.
Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.
The worst pain a man can have is to know much and be impotent to act.
All men's gains are the fruit of venturing.
If you're going to be a player people will remember, you have to win the Open at St. Andrews.
If you have no family or friends to aid you . . . turn your face to the Great West and there build up your home and fortune.
There is no relief at it being over. There is the joy of winning it.
Losing feels worse than winning feels good.
Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.
Personally, I experience success when I enjoy what I'm doing. I love the creative process, even if the end result isn't embraced by anyone else.
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