The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Execution
Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren’t sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better.
John Carmack Re: Definitions of terms · 2002

Quotes

“Preparation, I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture.”

Amelia Earhart · Last Flight, 1937 · Primary source

“The type of person who comes up with the brilliant idea isn’t often the best person to turn it into a business.”

Bill Gates · Source Code, 2025 · Primary source

“Strategic change doesn’t just start at the top. It starts with your calendar.”

Andrew S. Grove · Only the Paranoid Survive, 1996 · Primary source

“If a man has failed, you will find he has dreamed instead of working. There is no way to success in our art, but to take off your coat, grind paint, and work like a digger on the railroad, all day and every day.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson · Power, 1860 · Primary source

“Take a simple idea and take it seriously.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“You’re much more likely to do well if you start out to do something feasible instead of something that isn’t feasible. Isn’t that perfectly obvious?”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“The most effective way to do it is to do it.”

Amelia Earhart · No reliable source

Related Tags

Preparation 12 Planning 4 Readiness 2 Risk management 5 Action 21 Initiative 18 Decisiveness 2 Practical effort 1 Time allocation 1 Strategic priorities 1 Calendar management 1 Organisational change 5 Discipline 18 Experimentation 8 Iteration 2 Goal focus 1 Entrepreneurship 4 Commercialisation 2 Team building 2 Division of skills 1 Hard work 6 Persistence 18 Craftsmanship 2 Simplicity 24 Focus 8 Conviction 5 Clear thinking 3 Feasibility 1 Practical judgement 6 Goal selection 1 Decision-making 30