I don't know about you, but I've always loved famous quotes on success. For some reason, these words of wisdom spoken by the famous people of the past and present have an almost magical quality to them. When you speak them out loud, they make you feel wise and strong. When you read them when you are sad and frustrated, they cheer you up and make you feel re-energized.

Why wouldn't they? Almost all of these quotes were spoken by people who've made strides towards the betterment of human society, and, in some cases, became incredibly rich in the process. These men and women deserve respect and their words should be revered!

The following quotes I'll include in this article are focused on the much studied subject of success. Everyone wants it. In fact, everyone needs it to some extent. Sadly though, not everyone knows exactly what it is, nor how to obtain it. To learn about success we tend to look up to the successful people of the pass and present to learn about it. Here is what some of them have to say.

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. - Dale Carnegie

As Dale Carnegie plainly puts it, succeeding is all about getting what you truly want. If you want money, then obtaining it will be your success. If you don't want money, than no matter how much you get, it will not make you successful. Why? Because if money isn't what you want, it won't make you happy, and if something doesn't make you happy, you won't feel very successful. Success is fulfilling your true desire, your innermost dreams, and when you do this, you will feel a true sense of accomplishment. Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, takes it one step further...

The starting point of all achievement is desire. - Napoleon Hill

Why does he say this? It is because without proper desire you will be without motivation. Without proper motivation, it is impossible to excel in any given achievement or goal. How important is motivation?

I think back to my high school chemistry class. For some reason, I hated it. It wasn't that I didn't like science. In fact, Physics was one of my favorites! Earth Science I thought was interesting to. I exceled in those classes, but anyone can guess what happened in Chemistry. I did enough to avoid detention, but this was about as far as my motivation pushed me. I'll bet anyone who went to school can relate to this example and think of some class they didn't like and coincidently never really exceled in. It's a very simple logic, all of our actions are governed by a motive, and the amount of motivation will always directly equal the amount of action we take.

If you wanna succeed as bad as you wanna breathe, then you'll be successful. - E.T. (Eric Thomas)

I love this famous quote on success. How bad do you want to breathe? Do a little experiment, please. Close your mouth and hold your nose, and try doing this for 3 minutes. Trust me, you'll find out how much you want to breathe! Just as I said before, the amount of motivation you have will directly equal the amount of effort you'll put in. As Pablo Picasso said:

Action is the foundational key to success. - Pablo Picasso

I hate it when people claim that the so-called Law of Attraction is the secret to success. It isn't. If there is a secret to success I'd say it would be action. I have yet to see a rich man who can honestly claim that he just sat around dreaming about money all day, and somehow money just magically started to come to him. Besides playing poker or recieving a will from your great grandfather, it is impossible to become rich without putting in at least a little effort. Having a positive mindset is indeed an important ingredient to success, but it is by far not the only ingredient to focus on. As a final argument, I quote Theodore Roosevelt:

Nothing worth having was ever achieved without effort. - Theodore Roosevelt

Some people take action, but then when they meet their first stumbling block, they quit. Don't do this. Failure is also a very important ingredient to success. It help us learn. If you fail once, don't stop, because nothing in the world will force you to make that exact same mistake again! At least you know what not to do next time. Also, as Booker T. Washington says, a good way to measure success is the amount of failures you've made to reach your success.

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

These famous quotes on success reveal the most important steps to conquering any achievement or goal. In a nutshell, you must decide what it is that you truly want so you will be motivated to take action, and keep on taking action no matter how many times you fail until you have reached the door to success. Once you have reached your ultimate success, you will notice that when you've started out, you never expected to meet as many obstacles as you have. This, is true success!