These 32 Hard Work Quotes Will Show You What Yoda, Sophocles, Coco Chanel, and Many Others Have in Common

Hard work is instrumental for success. If you want to make it in the business world, you will have to invest a lot of time and effort into building your business venture.

The chances are that you will experience a fair share of setbacks before you reap the first fruits of your labor. In spite of all the difficulties you encounter along the way, it is crucial not to succumb to despair and to stay on track.

What I found to be surprisingly helpful and motivating is taking advice from the people who established themselves as pillars of business success. Take a look at the following hard work quotes to see why these eminent individuals value hard work above all other traits.

The Most Inspirational Hard Work Quotes

Quotes on the Importance of Hard Work

#1. “I never dreamed about success; I worked for it.” — Estee Lauder, businesswoman

#2. “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” — Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States

#3. No matter how hard you work, someone else is working harder.” — Elon Musk, entrepreneur

#4. A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.” — Colin Powell, former U.S. Defense Secretary

#5. Without labor, nothing prospers.” — Sophocles, philosopher

#6. 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, television journalist and author

#7. Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is hard work.” — Stephen King, American author

#8. A lot of hard work is hidden behind nice things.” — Ralph Lauren, fashion designer and business executive

#9. I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top but should get you pretty near.” — Margaret Thatcher, Former U.K. Prime Minister

#10. 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, actress

#11. “Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.” — Sam Ewing, author

Quotes on Achieving Success by Working Hard

#12. “Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” — Alexander Graham Bell, inventor

#13. “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” — Vidal Sassoon, businessman

#14. “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” — Colin Powell, politician

#15. 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, soccer player

#16. The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” — Vince Lombardi, football coach

#17. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” — Henry David Thoreau, essayist

Quotes on Perseverance in Spite of Failures

#18. Success is not final; failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston S. Churchill, former British Prime Minister

#19. Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” — Conrad Hilton, hotelier and business magnate

#20. Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure, or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember — that’s where you will find success.” — Thomas J. Watson, CEO of IBM

#21. “If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.” — Steve Jobs, business magnate

#22. Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” — Coco Chanel, fashion designer

#23. Keep on going, and the chances are that you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I never heard of anyone ever stumbling on something sitting down.” — Charles F. Kettering, auto industry magnate

Motivational Hard Work Quotes

#24. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” — Walt Disney, animation industry pioneer

#25. There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work and time for love. That leaves no other time.” — Coco Chanel

#26. Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs.” — Henry Ford, American industrialist

#27. Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” — Oprah Winfrey, media mogul

#28. Entrepreneurship is a great leveler. The wonderful thing is that money is not the sole currency when it comes to starting a business; drive, determination, passion, and hard work are all free and more valuable than a pot of cash.” — Richard Branson, business magnate

#29. “If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.” — Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX

#30. “There will be obstacles; there will be doubters; there will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits.” — Michael Phelps, Olympic swimmer

#31. “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” — George Bernard Shaw, playwright

#32. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” — Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back

Final Thoughts

The relevance of hard work is indisputable. Doing well in the business world is practically synonymous with working hard. But, as you have seen from the quotes by famous people around the globe, it takes endurance, tenacity, and determination to resist and persevere in the face of failure.

I sincerely hope that you liked the collection of hard work quotes I’ve composed for you. You are welcome to come back to them whenever you feel like you need a little bit of motivation or encouragement when the game gets hard.