Success Quotes

Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

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Success Quotes

You know, you'd look pretty fabulous in a crown of laurels. Click on any success quote below to see it in context and find out where it falls on Shmoop's pretentious scale. We'll give you details on who said it, when they said it, and in some cases, why on earth they thought it was okay to say it.

"'Cause it's a Wednesday night, baby, and I'm alive."

Source: Girls | Speaker: Hannah Horvath

"A salesman is got to dream, boy."

Source: Death of a Salesman | Author: Arthur Miller

"Adrian!"

Source: Rocky | Speaker: Rocky Balboa

"Always be closing."

Source: Glengarry Glen Ross | Speaker: Blake

"An Oxford man!"

Source: The Great Gatsby | Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

"And another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust."

Source: "Another One Bites the Dust" | Speaker: Queen

"And it'd be our own, an' nobody could can us."

Source: Of Mice and Men | Author: John Steinbeck

"Bam!"

Source: Emeril Live | Speaker: Emeril Lagasse

"Be the ball."

Source: Caddyshack | Speaker: Ty Webb

"Because only one thing counts in this life: get them to sign on the line which is dotted."

Source: Glengarry Glen Ross | Speaker: Blake

"Bond. James Bond."

Source: Dr. No | Speaker: James Bond

"Come on down!"

Source: The Price is Right | Speaker: Johnny Olson

"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."

Source: Henry Ford's Marketing Team | Speaker: Henry Ford

"Don't stop believin'."

Source: Don't Stop Believin' | Speaker: Journey

"Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife."

Source: Gladiator | Speaker: Maximus Decimus Meridius

"From my infancy I was imbued with high hopes and a lofty ambition."

Source: Frankenstein | Author: Mary Shelley

"Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Source: Not verified | Speaker: Thomas Edison

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good."

Source: Wall Street | Speaker: Gordon Gekko

"Hakuna Matata."

Source: The Lion King | Speaker: Timon and Pumbaa

"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."

Source: Stanford Commencement Speech (2005) | Speaker: Steve Jobs

"He ain't no drag—Papa's got a brand new bag."

Source: Papa's Got a Brand New Bag | Speaker: James Brown

"He chose poorly."

Source: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade | Speaker: Grail Knight

"He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich."

Source: "Down Under" | Speaker: Men at Work

"Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho! It's home from work we go!"

Source: Heigh-Ho | Speaker: The Seven Dwarfs

"Hello, everybody. This is Mrs. Norman Maine."

Source: A Star Is Born | Speaker: Vicki Lester

"Her voice is full of money"

Source: The Great Gatsby | Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Here's Johnny! (Tonight Show)"

Source: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | Speaker: Ed McMahon

"Hey sista, go sista…"

Source: "Lady Marmalade" | Speaker: Robert Crewe and Kenny Nolan

"How do you like them apples?"

Source: Good Will Hunting | Speaker: Will Hunting

"I am a material girl."

Source: Material Girl | Speaker: Madonna

"I am big. It's the pictures that got small."

Source: Sunset Boulevard | Speaker: Norma Desmond

"I call people rich when they're able to meet the requirements of their imagination."

Source: The Portrait of a Lady | Author: Henry James

"I came in like a wrecking ball"

Source: "Wrecking Ball" | Speaker: Miley Cyrus

"I celebrate myself"

Source: "Song of Myself" | Author: Walt Whitman

"I gave her a lanyard"

Source: The Lanyard | Author: Billy Collins

"I love it when a plan comes together."

Source: The A-Team | Speaker: John "Hannibal" Smith

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be."

Source: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul | Author: Douglas Adams

"I proved once and for all that the limb is mightier than the thumb."

Source: It Happened One Night | Speaker: Ellie Andrews

"I said you wanna be startin' somethin', you gotta be startin' something."

Source: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" | Speaker: Michael Jackson

"I wanna really really really wanna zig-a-zig ha."

Source: "Wannabe" | Speaker: The Spice Girls

"I want my MTV!"

Source: MTV commercial | Speaker: Various

"I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules."

Source: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Speaker: Jefferson Smith

"I'd like to buy a vowel."

Source: Wheel of Fortune | Speaker: Contestants

"I'll be there someday, I can go the distance."

Source: Go the Distance | Speaker: Hercules

"I'm a smart, strong, sensual woman."

Source: Bob's Burgers | Speaker: Tina Belcher

"I'm an adult, and I'm responsible. Let's go get some candy."

Source: Broad City | Speaker: Abbi Jacobson

"I'm as mad as hell!"

Source: Network | Speaker: Howard Beale

"I'm going back to the start"

Source: "Scientist" | Speaker: Coldplay

"I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Source: "Failure," a Nike TV Commercial | Speaker: Michael Jordan

"I've got the moves like Jagger."

Source: "Moves Like Jagger" | Speaker: Maroon 5

"If you build it, he will come."

Source: Field of Dreams | Speaker: A mysterious voice

"If you build it, they will come."

Source: Field of Dreams | Speaker: Ray Kinsella

"If you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best"

Source: Marilyn Monroe | Speaker: Marilyn Monroe

"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different."

Source: Quoted in Coco Chanel: Her Life, Her Secrets (1971) | Speaker: Coco Chanel

"Is that your final answer?"

Source: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire | Speaker: Regis Philbin

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

Source: The Origin of the Species | Speaker: Charles Darwin

"It's going down. I'm yelling, "Timber!""

Source: "Timber" | Speaker: Pitbull and Kesha

"It's October 3rd."

Source: Mean Girls | Speaker: Cady Heron

"Kill the fatted calf."

Source: Luke 15:23-24 | Author: Luke

"Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead."

Source: The Great Gatsby | Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Life for me ain't been no crystal stair."

Source: "Mother to Son" | Author: Langston Hughes

"Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"

Source: White Heat | Speaker: Cody Jarrett

"Maybe Christmas, perhaps...means a little bit more!"

Source: How the Grinch Stole Christmas | Author: Dr. Seuss

"Money is the barometer of a society's virtue."

Source: Atlas Shrugged | Author: Ayn Rand

"My advice is, never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time."

Source: David Copperfield | Author: Charles Dickens

"My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore"

Source: The Great Gatsby | Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

"New York, New York!"

Source: "Theme from New York, New York" | Speaker: Frank Sinatra

"No more half measures, Walter."

Source: Breaking Bad | Speaker: Mike Ehrmantraut

"Nostalgia. It's delicate, but potent."

Source: Mad Men | Speaker: Don Draper

"Oh, the places you'll go!"

Source: Oh, the Places You'll Go! | Author: Dr. Seuss

"Plastics."

Source: The Graduate | Speaker: Mr. McGuire

"Pretty woman, walkin' down the street."

Source: Oh, Pretty Woman | Speaker: Roy Orbison

"Sawyer, you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!"

Source: 42nd Street | Speaker: Julian Marsh

"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom!"

Source: The Scarlet Letter | Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

"Show me the money!"

Source: Jerry Maguire | Speaker: Rod Tidwell

"Starve a cold, feed a fever."

Source: Medieval Reference Manual | Author: John Withals

"Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation."

Source: My Life with Martin Luther King Jr. | Author: Coretta Scott King

"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 while trying to succeed."

Source: Up from Slavery: An Autobiography | Author: Booker T. Washington

"That government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Source: The Gettysburg Address | Author: Abraham Lincoln

"That'll do pig. That'll do."

Source: Babe | Speaker: Farmer Hoggett

"That's the way love goes."

Source: "That's the Way Love Goes" | Speaker: Janet Jackson

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen nor even touched, but just felt in the heart."

Source: The Story of My Life | Author: Helen Keller

"The record shows I took the blows and did it my way."

Source: "My Way" | Speaker: Frank Sinatra

"The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat"

Source: Wide World of Sports | Speaker: Jim McKay

"There are no men like me. Only me."

Source: Game of Thrones | Speaker: Jaime Lannister

"There can be only one."

Source: Highlander | Speaker: The Kurgan

"Time for the charm bomb to explode."

Source: Bob's Burgers | Speaker: Tina Belcher

"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

Source: The Pride of the Yankees | Speaker: Lou Gehrig

"Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner.""

Source: Ich bin ein Berliner Speech | Speaker: John F. Kennedy

"We could live offa the fatta the lan'."

Source: Of Mice and Men | Author: John Steinbeck

"We didn't need dialogue. We had faces."

Source: Sunset Boulevard | Speaker: Norma Desmond

"We have met the enemy and they are ours."

Source: Letter to William Henry Harrison | Author: Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry

"We just got to go on, that's all. That's what grownups would do."

Source: Lord of the Flies | Author: William Golding

"We speak student."

Source: Tagline | Author: Shmoop

"Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty-five years, doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it."

Source: Harvey | Speaker: Elwood P. Dowd

"When a problem comes along, you must whip it."

Source: "Whip It" | Speaker: Devo

"When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, "No, I went to films.""

Source: Interview with Andrew Walker of BBC News | Speaker: Quentin Tarantino

"Who is that girl I see?"

Source: "Reflection" | Speaker: Mulan

"Win just one for the Gipper."

Source: Knute Rockne All American | Speaker: George Gipp

"Winning isn't everything; it's the only thing."

Source: Spoken at Packers' Training Camp | Speaker: Vince Lombardi

"Yeah, that's the ticket!"

Source: Saturday Night Live | Speaker: Tommy Flanagan, the Pathological Liar

"Yo ho! Yo ho! A pirate's life for me! We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot!"

Source: Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) | Speaker: Pirates

"You ask me if I have a God complex. Let me tell you something. I am God."

Source: Malice | Speaker: Dr. Jed Hill

"You can feel it all over. You can feel it all over, people."

Source: Sir Duke | Speaker: Stevie Wonder

"You come at the king, you best not miss."

Source: The Wire | Speaker: Omar Little

"You know what the weirdest part about having a job is?"

Source: Girls | Speaker: Jessa Johansson

"You think I'm licked. You all think I'm licked. Well, I'm not licked."

Source: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Speaker: Jefferson Smith

"You want weapons. We're in a library. Books are the best weapon in the world."

Source: Doctor Who | Speaker: Tenth Doctor

"You're gonna be popular!"

Source: Wicked | Speaker: Glinda

"You're off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so...get on your way!"

Source: Oh, the Places You'll Go! | Author: Dr. Seuss

"You're so money and you don't even know it."

Source: Swingers | Speaker: Trent Walker

"You're the sanest man that ever walked into this courtroom."

Source: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Speaker: Judge May

"You're trying to seduce me."

Source: The Graduate | Speaker: Ben Braddock