There is no royal flower strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it, for whatever success I have attained has been the result of much hard work and many sleepless nights.
Madam C. J. WalkerRead
I feel that I am in a business that is a credit to the womanhood of our race.
Interpretation
Madam C. J. Walker expresses pride in her business as a significant contribution to women's empowerment.
In this quote, Madam C. J. Walker highlights her belief that her entrepreneurial efforts not only benefit her personally but also uplift and honor the status of women, particularly within her race. By emphasizing the significance of her business, she underscores the idea that success in business can play a crucial role in advancing women's rights and recognition in society.
In practice
In a speech about women in business.
There is no royal flower strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it, for whatever success I have attained has been the result of much hard work and many sleepless nights.
I am not satisfied in making money for myself. I endeavor to provide employment for hundreds of the women of my race.
I have made it possible for many colored women to abandon the washtub for a more pleasant and profitable occupation.
Don't think that because you have to go down in the wash-tub that you are any less a lady!
The girls and women of our race must not be afraid to take hold of business endeavor and, by patient industry, close economy, determined effort and close application to business, wring success out of a number of business opportunities that lie at their very doors.
As I bent over the washboard and looked at my arms buried in soapsuds, I said to myself, 'What are you going to do when you grow old and your back gets stiff?' This set me to thinking, but with all my thinking I couldn't see how a poor washerwoman was going to better my condition.
When I was nominated for the Oscar, I was absolutely positive that Judy Garland would win for 'Judgment at Nuremberg,' and then they call my name, and I was absolutely paralyzed. And I remember walking down to the stage and saying to myself, 'Don't run. It's not dignified.'
The way to be successful in the software world is to come up with breakthrough software, and so whether it's Microsoft Office or Windows, its pushing that forward. New ideas, surprising the marketplace, so good engineering and good business are one in the same.
It feels like my hard work has paid off, but at the same time, I still have the impostor, you know, syndrome. I still feel like I'm going to wake up, and everybody's going to see me for the hack I am.
You can get ahead in the world. But you will have to work, you will have to want tremendously to accomplish something, and then be willing to pay the price. Are you willing?
In our business, things look like a failure until they're not. It's pretty binary transitions.
Success comes to those who become success conscious. Failure comes to those who indifferently allow themselves to become failure conscious.
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