What is hard work? Hard work is about doing something that may not directly inspire you but that is necessary for you to achieve your goal. But how does working hard contribute to success?
Here are some quotes on hard work from successful entrepreneurs, visionaries and business leaders.


I was not an overnight superstar, but I was willing to work and willing to learn, and that paid off for me. Every change I made was a small step forward, and as long as I took more steps forward than backward I felt as though I was making progress. I learned that if things weren’t working for me, I had to change, and not expect others to change. But the single greatest lesson I learned was that it takes courage, not confidence, to build a business.
I tell everybody, if you can cold-call once in your life, it’s one of the best life trainings you can get. It’s very humbling. It teaches you to be quick on your feet. It also teaches you not to take the word no so seriously. Face the rejection, and get back up and do it again. I would hear the word no all the time selling fax machines, so to me it just became like a numbers game.
All great success and achievement is preceded and accompanied by hard, hard work. When in doubt, “try harder.” And if that doesn’t work, try harder still. And when you work, work all the time you work! Don’t waste time.
There will be lots of downs. Do your best to fight tooth and nail to survive. And if you don’t survive, if you have worked damned hard, don’t get down about it. There’s a lot of successful entrepreneurs who have picked themselves up and started again.
All successful people men and women are big dreamers. They imagine what their future could be, ideal in every respect, and then they work every day toward their distant vision, that goal or purpose.
A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
Great effort springs naturally from great attitude.
There is simply no substitute for hard work when it comes to achieving success.
The Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.
Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.
Some people dream of success… while others wake up and work hard at it.
Don’t ever, ever, believe anyone who tells you that you can just get by, by doing the easiest thing possible. Because there’s always somebody behind you who really wants to do what you’re doing. And they’re going to work harder than you if you’re not working hard.
Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise.
No masterpiece was ever created by a lazy artist.
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.
I learned the value of hard work by working hard.
A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
Success is not a destination, but the road that you’re on. Being successful means that you’re working hard and walking your walk every day. You can only live your dream by working hard towards it. That’s living your dream.
Keep working hard and you can get anything that you want.
Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.
My success just evolved from working hard at the business at hand each day.
Working hard is very important. You’re not going to get anywhere without working extremely hard.
There’s really no substitute for working hard. I think that’s my biggest talent. There are always people who are funnier and more talented than I am, but I don’t take anything for granted and I commit myself 100% to each of my roles.
Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds.
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.
Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.
Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.
I just have to keep working hard.
Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.
There is no substitute for hard work.
Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.
Inspiration is one thing and you can’t control it, but hard work is what keeps the ship moving. Good luck means, work hard. Keep up the good work.
The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.
The fruit of your own hard work is the sweetest.
In my experience, being busy and working hard is the key to sanity/happiness.
We all naturally want to become successful… we also want to take shortcuts. And it’s easy to do so, but you can never take away the effort of hard work and discipline and sacrifice.
The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.
The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work.
Hard work pays off – hard work beats talent any day, but if you’re talented and work hard, it’s hard to be beat

Related Articles on Hard Work:
- Understand that Starting a Business is Hard Work
- 10 Qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs
- 20 Qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs
- 10 Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs
- What are the Talents of Successful Entrepreneurs?
- 10 Common Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs
- What You Need to Do to Become a Successful Entrepreneur
- 6 Skills Every Entrepreneur Need to Succeed
- 10 Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs
Books and eBooks on Hard Work:
- INSIGHTS: Reflections from 101 of Yale’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs
- Fundamentals for Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur: From Business Idea to Launch and Management
- Entrepreneurial Mindset: 20 Common Beliefs, Characteristics And Habits Of Highly Successful Entrepreneurs (Entrepreneur Mind & Success Mindset)
- Successful Entrepreneur : 11 Tips On How To Become Millionaire And Escape 9-To-5
- ENTREPRENEUR: The 25 TRAITS of ALL Successful Entrepreneurs (Competitive Advantage)