What is success?

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, whether by
a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed
easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded.

by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Success

Sweet is the taste,
of success,
and knowing that your struggles,
were not in vain.
For if a goal is in sight,
all is worthwhile,
and all your struggles,
pale into insignificance.

by D.Lloyd
Success

Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple host
Who took the flag to-day
Can tell the definition,
So clear, of victory,

As he, defeated, dying,
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Break, agonized and clear!

by Emily Dickinson

Success


I hold no dream of fortune vast,
  Nor seek undying fame.
I do not ask when life is past
  That many know my name.

I may not own the skill to rise
  To glory's topmost height,
Nor win a place among the wise,
  But I can keep the right.

And I can live my life on earth
  Contented to the end,
If but a few shall know my worth
  And proudly call me friend.

by Edgar A. Guest