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20 Quotes About Hard Work That Will Inspire You

Topics: Career Advice
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What do your heroes have in common? They all work hard. This is true whether their professional sphere is the playing field or the boardroom. Every business mogul, every elite athlete, every inspiring artist has put in the time learning their skills and honing their craft. No amount of pure talent will make you a success, unless you’re willing to put in the work.

You probably understand that working hard is an important part of getting where you’d like to go. But, that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to summon up that kind of high-level persistence, day after day. So, here are some quotes from successful and hardworking people that will help inspire you to keep going.

  1. “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
  1. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison
  1. “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” – David Brinkley
  1. “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth
  1. “It’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success.” – David Feherty
  1. “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” – Stephen King

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  1. “If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to meet it!” – Jonathan Winters
  1. “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
  1. “Education, actual learning – it is hard work. It’s very personal. Your parents don’t teach you anything. Your teachers don’t teach you anything. The government doesn’t teach you anything. You read it. You don’t understand it, you read it again. You break a pencil and read it again.” – Dean Kamen
  1. “You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don’t make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can’t take their eyes off you.” – Maya Angelou
  1. “In every position that I’ve ever been in, there have been naysayers who don’t believe I’m qualified or who don’t believe I can do the work. And I feel a special responsibility to prove them wrong.” – Sonia Sotomayor
  1. “Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none of his present.” – Roger Babson
  1. “Luck? I don’t know anything about luck. I’ve never banked on it and I’m afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: Hard work – and realizing what is opportunity and what isn’t.” – Lucille Ball
  1. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison
  1. “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goals: my strength lies solely in my tenacity.” – Louis Pasteur
  1. “If money is your hope for independence you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability.” – Henry Ford
  1. “I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true – hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.” – Ray Bradbury
  1. “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs
  1. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” – Mark Twain
  1. “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson

Sources: Forbes, Inc.com, Huffington Post

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