Success & work quotes, explained

A call to public service at the height of the Cold War. The very next sentence widens the same challenge to the whole world, which is the half most people never quote.

A line from a 1997 newspaper column written as an imaginary commencement speech. The column became the hit song “Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” and its lines were credited to famous people.

Roosevelt's defense of people who try and fail over critics who never try. It was part of a long speech in Paris about the duties of citizens in a democracy.

Great things grow from small beginnings, so start with what is right in front of you. The original says the journey begins “beneath one's feet.”

Franklin's advice to Philadelphians on preventing house fires. It is now used about health, but it began as fire safety and led to the city's first volunteer fire company.

Emerson means we become strong by harnessing forces greater than ourselves, like wind, water and great ideas, and letting them carry our work. Aim your effort in the direction those higher powers already move.

Churchill's first promise as Prime Minister was not victory but hardship. He told Parliament the truth about the war ahead and asked for its support anyway.

Jordan lists his missed shots and lost games and says those failures are the reason for his success. The words were spoken by Jordan in a Nike ad written by its agency.

Newton credits earlier scientists for making his discoveries possible. He borrowed the image of dwarfs on giants' shoulders from medieval scholars.

Einstein says knowledge is limited to what we already understand, while imagination reaches beyond it. He was describing how he made discoveries.

An encouraging line that fits Mandela's life perfectly, but it has not been traced to anything he said or wrote. It spread online in the 2000s and especially after his death in 2013.

A business professor's 1963 summary of Darwin's ideas, applied to management. It was later shortened and credited to Darwin himself.

Someone who can do many things but none of them really well. Today it is often turned around to praise people with broad skills.

Arrogance leads to ruin. The popular saying shortens a two-part verse from the Book of Proverbs, which pairs pride with destruction and a haughty spirit with a fall.

Keep wanting more and keep being willing to look foolish by trying new things. Jobs borrowed the words from the farewell issue of the Whole Earth Catalog.

Spencer's phrase for natural selection: organisms best suited to their environment survive and reproduce. “Fittest” means best adapted, not strongest.

Armstrong's first words as he stepped onto the Moon. He said he meant “one small step for a man,” and the missing word has been debated ever since.

The fastest runner doesn't always win and the strongest army doesn't always conquer. Luck and timing affect everyone, so talent alone is no guarantee.

Latin for “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Caesar used it to report a victory so fast and complete that three words were enough to tell the whole story.

A modern summary of Aristotle's ethics by the American historian Will Durant. The idea is Aristotle's; the sentence is Durant's.

A coach's line that only victory counts. UCLA coach Red Sanders said it first; Lombardi used it later and said he regretted how it was understood.

If you never try, you are guaranteed to fail, so take your chances. Gretzky said it to a hockey journalist in 1983, and the wording has shifted slightly since.