Summary: Success has been an endeavour for humanity forever. Here are some great quotations from great thinkers from the past, to get you focused on achieving your goals.

What constitutes success differs from person to person based on individual preferences. But it is a universal truth if there was ever one, that every entrepreneur hopes for success for themselves and their enterprise.

A yearning for success is as old as time, with people across time and civilisations, trying to strategise about how to achieve it. A quick overview of what influential thinkers and great achievers from the past reveals that even though the world has changed markedly with technology, the skills you need to succeed are largely the same.

Get inspired, ignite your desire and reinforce your will to achieve your ambitions with these thoughts that have gone down history.

Marcus Aurelius

“You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realise this and you will find strength.”

Niccolo Macchiaveli

“Never was anything great achieved without danger (risk).”

Margaret Thatcher

“I am extraordinarily patient. Provided I get my way in the end.”

Confucius

“Success depends on previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.”

Antoine de Saint Exupery

“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

Charlotte Bronte

“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.”

Sappho

“Although they are only breath, words which I command are immortal.”

Plato

“Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly.”

Lao Tzu

“Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”

Patanjali

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds.”

Napoleon

“Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.”

Sun Tzu

“Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline. When one has all five virtues together, each appropriate to its function, then one can be a leader.”