What is success, or what would it mean to have succeeded? Society has cowered most people into believing that success is all about: being able to afford shiny and expensive toys, making as much money as would last the 5th generation, living in palatial or posh homes, having an adorable family, attaining celebrity status, feeding sumptuously and partying lavishly, acquiring property all around the globe, threading the corridors of power and befriending those who run things, commanding the respect and admiration of town…

However, those are success improperly called. The succeeding quotes will cause you to rethink success, especially this 2017.

If you have a good name, if you are more often right than you are wrong, if your children respect you, if your grandchildren are glad to see you, if your friends can count on you and you can count on them in time of trouble, if you can face God and say “I have done my best,” then you are a success.

~ Ann Landers

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are no secrets to success. Don’t waste time looking for them. Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty to those for whom you work, and persistence.

~ Colin Powell

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is the way great spiritual giants are produced.

~ Swami Vivekananda

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

~ Michael Jordan

If A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play, and Z keeping your mouth shut.

~ Albert Einstein

The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.

~ Bruce Lee

Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.”

~ Zig Ziglar

Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.”

~ George Sheehan

Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.

~ Bobby Unser