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?
With all humility, I think, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Infinitely more important than the vain attempt to love one's neighbor as one's self. If you want to hit a bird on the wing you must have all your will in focus, you must not be thinking about yourself, and equally, you must not be thinking about your neighbor; you must be living with your eye on that bird. Every achievement is a bird on the wing.
I built my talents on the shoulders of someone else's talent.
What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.
Past failures unlock future successes
Never think that success is down to your own performance alone. If you start listening only to yourself you take the first step back towards the bottom. The flowers of victory belong in many vases.
The Big Dream of any entrepreneur really has very little to do with the entrepreneur. If you truly love repairing automobiles, chances are, you'll be a lousy business owner. Likewise, if you are fascinated by debits and credits, the dream of building an accounting firm with you at the helm is probably best left unfulfilled.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.