Hard work is critical to getting anywhere in life and sometimes we need a reminder of that. If there was a formula to success, then there would be a consensus. It’s true that hard work alone can’t guarantee success — everyone needs to get a little lucky eventually. But we can’t let that discourage us, because even though we sometimes need to wait on an opportunity, we always need to be ready for it. We don’t work hard to guarantee success, we work hard to guarantee that we are ready to jump on the opportunities that will eventually come our way. The following is a list of hard work quotes from greats and unknowns alike about their own experiences and journeys working hard to succeed when the opportunity arose. The best thing that we can do is look to others, not as blueprints for success, but as inspiration to find our own way.
Famous Hard Work Quotes
- “Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” - Abraham Lincoln
RELATED: The Laziest Zodiac Signs (& The Most Hardworking Ones), According To Astrology 2. “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” - Thomas Jefferson 3. “Without labor nothing prospers.” - Sophocles 4. “What comes easy won’t last. What lasts won’t come easy.” - Barack Obama 5. “There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.” - Calvin Coolidge
- “There is no substitute for hard work.” - Thomas Edison
- “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” - Dwayne Johnson
- “Success at anything will always come down to this: Focus and effort, and we control both.” - Dwayne Johnson
- “There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits.” - Michael Phelps
- “Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
RELATED: 100 Motivational Quotes That Will Inspire You To Work Even Harder To Achieve Your Goals
Quotes to Inspire Perseverance and Determination
“Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.” - Kobe Bryant
“Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard.” - Tim Notke
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” - Pele
“Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually, it’ll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay off.” - Kevin Hart
“A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” - Colin Powell
“Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.” - Gordon B. Hinckley
“Luck is great, but most of life is hard work.” - Iain Duncan Smith
“Hard work betrays none.” - Hachiman Hikigaya
“What comes easy won’t last. What lasts won’t come easy.” - Unknown
“All roads that lead to success have to pass through hard work boulevard at some point.” - Eric Thomas
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.” - Newt Gingrich
“It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up.” - Vince Lombardi RELATED: 40 Best Labor Day Quotes & Inspiring Sayings About Hard Work
Quotes to Inspire Hard Work and Teamwork
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” - Michael Jordan
“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” - Henry Ford
“The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.” - James Cash Penney
“No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.” - Reid Hoffman
“If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” - Booker T. Washington
“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” - Henry Ford
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” - Unknown
“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” - Harry Truman
Quotes About Hard Work in Business
“Hard work is an essential element in tracking down and perfecting a strategy or in executing it.” - Charlie Munger
“There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them.” - Seth Godin
“I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.” - Gilbert Keith Chesterton
“I think that my biggest attribute to any success that I have had is hard work. There really is no substitute for working hard.” - Maria Bartiromo
“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.” - William Durant
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” - Walt Disney
“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” - Estée Lauder
“It’s not about money or connections – it’s the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone.” - Mark Cuban
“The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.” - Proverbs 12:24
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” - Stephen King 41. “Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. This improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40-hour workweeks and you’re putting in 100-hour workweeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing, you know that you will achieve in four months what it takes them a year to achieve.” - Elon Musk RELATED: 40 Best Motivational Quotes For Work Dan O’Reilly is a writer who covers news, politics and social justice. Follow him on Twitter.
