Good ones fit the moment your team is in. The line credited to Harry Truman about not caring who gets the credit works after a team win, and Denis Waitley's "constant striving to surpass yourself" fits a note to someone who just earned a certification.
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Achievement Quotes for Leaders and Their Teams
These achievement quotes are for leaders whose teams just hit a key target or important milestone, whether that's a branch that closed the quarter over its loan target or a new hire who passed a licensing exam on the first try.
A good quote provides your people with a clearer picture of the point you're making, and it helps the team to more quickly align on the outcome you seek to achieve.
A quote works best when the leader connects it to what the team did or needs to do. Read the quote, name the result and the people behind it, then ask one question about what made it work or will make it work. That last step matters because the answer tells you what to repeat on the next project.
The quotes about achievement below are grouped by the situation you're in, from celebrating a team win to setting the next standard after one. Each card has a Copy quote button, so you can paste a quote and the name straight into a slide or a recognition card.
Jump To: A Team Win | Personal Milestones | Success | Raising the Bar | Short Sayings | Using a Quote | FAQ
Quotes on Achievement for Celebrating a Team Win
When a team hits a big target, the leader decides whether the moment gets the recognition it deserves. A short quote at the start of the meeting gives the win immediate focus, and it shows the team their effort was noticed by the person who set the target. A few places they work include:
- A branch that finished the quarter at 112% of its deposit goal.
- A project team that went live on the date they promised six months earlier.
- A claims unit that cleared a backlog without overtime.
- A sales team that won back an account they lost the year before.
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"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit."
Attributed to Harry S. Truman
33rd President of the United States
"If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes real good, then you did it."
Attributed to Paul "Bear" Bryant
Hall of Fame college football coach, Alabama
"A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves."
Attributed to Lao Tzu
Chinese philosopher
"No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it."
Attributed to Andrew Carnegie
Industrialist and philanthropist
"I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion."
Attributed to Mia Hamm
Two-time Olympic gold medalist in soccer
Truman's line fits the project team that went live on time, because a launch date usually depends on people outside the core group, and the quote gives the leader an easy reason to name them. Bear Bryant's quote works for the branch that beat its deposit goal, when the manager wants the credit to land with the bankers who opened the accounts.
Personal Achievement Quotes for Individual Milestones
Personal milestones occur on individual schedules, like a certification earned after hours or a first year on a new team, and they're easy to miss when the leader is focused on team results. A quote in a handwritten note or a one-on-one tells that person the leader noticed what it took to get there. These quotes fit moments like these:
- A team member passes a licensing or certification exam.
- A new hire reaches the end of their first year.
- Someone hits their personal production goal for the first time.
- A team member is promoted into a new role.
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"The most splendid achievement of all is the constant striving to surpass yourself and to be worthy of your own approval."
Attributed to Denis Waitley
Author of The Psychology of Winning
"The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more."
Attributed to Jonas Salk
Developer of the polio vaccine
"The ones who want to achieve and win championships motivate themselves."
Attributed to Mike Ditka
Hall of Fame football player and coach
"Chance can allow you to accomplish a goal every once in a while, but consistent achievement happens only if you love what you are doing."
Attributed to Bart Conner
Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics
"If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves."
Attributed to Thomas Edison
Inventor
Waitley's line fits the person who passed a certification exam, because it gives credit for the effort they put in on top of a full workload. Jonas Salk's quote works for the promotion, since it treats the new role as the reward for the work that earned it.
Quotes About Success and Achievement
Talking about success gives a leader the chance to define it for the team, whether that means the number on the production report or the steps taken by the team to reach it. These quotes about success and achievement help the leader open that conversation. They fit times like these:
- A year-end review of what the team accomplished.
- A team that hit its target after a year of setbacks.
- A new manager setting expectations with the team for the first time.
- A conversation with a high performer about what comes next in their career.
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"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."
Booker T. Washington
Educator and author
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."
Albert Einstein
Physicist
"Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable."
John Wooden
Hall of Fame basketball coach, UCLA
"Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome."
Attributed to Arthur Ashe
Tennis champion
"Success is not measured by what you accomplish but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds."
Attributed to Orison Swett Marden
Founder of Success magazine
Booker T. Washington's line fits the team that hit its target after a year of setbacks, because it measures the result by what the team worked through to reach it. Einstein's quote works in the conversation with a high performer, since it moves the focus from the next title to the value they bring to the team.
Leadership Achievement Quotes for Raising the Bar
After a big win, the leader sets the tone for what comes next, and a team that just beat its target is often the same group who understands the need to always be seeking to improve. These quotes help the leader raise the bar while the team still feels good about the win. A few places they work include:
- Planning next year's targets after a record year.
- A team that has met its service standard for six months in a row.
- Turning a successful pilot into the way the whole department works.
- A one-on-one with a strong performer who's ready for a bigger challenge.
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"Good is the enemy of great."
Jim Collins
Author of Good to Great
"Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one's levels of aspiration and expectation."
Attributed to Jack Nicklaus
Golfer, winner of 18 major championships
"The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves."
Attributed to Ray Kroc
Businessman who built McDonald's
"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."
Attributed to Steve Jobs
Co-founder of Apple
"Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better."
Attributed to Pat Riley
Hall of Fame basketball coach
Collins's line fits the team that has met its service standard for six months, because it gives the leader a short way to ask what great would look like. Jack Nicklaus's quote works when you're planning next year's targets, since it treats a higher goal as the next step after a record year.
Short Achievement Sayings for Cards and Slides
A short saying works where a long quote won't fit, like the inside of a recognition card or the last slide of a quarterly review, and it gives the leader a quick way to mark a win for the team. These achievement sayings work well in moments like these:
- A handwritten note to someone who finished a big project.
- The closing slide of a quarterly results meeting.
- A recognition card sent to the whole team.
- A whiteboard in the team's work area after a record month.
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"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together."
Vincent van Gogh
Painter
"It always seems impossible until it's done."
Attributed to Nelson Mandela
Former President of South Africa
"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out."
Attributed to Robert Collier
Author of The Secret of the Ages
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work."
Attributed to Aristotle
Greek philosopher
"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."
Attributed to Tim Notke
High school basketball coach
Van Gogh's line fits the quarterly results slide, because it acknowledges the small pieces of work that added up to the quarter-end results. Mandela's quote works in a note to someone who finished a big project, and for a card the whole team can see, the free Recognition Ecards let you send one with an appropriate message on it.
How to Use an Achievement Quote with Your Team
An achievement quote lands best when the leader names the people behind the result and asks what made it work, because the answer shows the team what to keep doing.
DENISE'S QUARTER-END MEETING
Denise manages a nine-person bank branch that brought in $5.04 million in new deposits last quarter against a $4.5 million goal, which is 112% of the goal. At the quarter-end team meeting she read Bear Bryant's line about who gets the credit, put the two numbers on the screen and asked one question: what did we do differently this quarter?
The tellers pointed to how they had started handling referrals. Instead of handing a customer a banker's business card, they walked the customer over and introduced them, and more of those conversations turned into new accounts. Denise made the walk-over the branch standard and added it to new teller training.
Three months later the branch was referring 48 customers a month to its bankers, up from 30.
Denise used the quote to give the credit to the people who earned it, then asked a question that turned the win into a standard the branch could repeat.
For more quotes sorted by topic, see the leadership quotes for managers, and for picking a quote that fits your message, see Famous Leadership Quotes.
More for Leaders
If the next step after a win is a new target, see the goal setting quotes. For a team member who just reached a personal milestone, the free personal development plan template gives the two of you a place to write down the next one.
Orison Swett Marden, who founded Success magazine, wrote several of the free classic books in the Classic Self Growth Library.
Achievement Quotes FAQ
The questions below address what leaders most commonly ask about achievement quotes.
Click on the (+) sign below to expand each question. Click the (-) sign to collapse it again.
What are good achievement quotes for work?
What are some quotes about success and achievement?
Booker T. Washington wrote in Up From Slavery (1901) that success is measured "by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." Albert Einstein told LIFE magazine in 1955, "Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."
How do I use a quote to recognize a team win?
Read the quote at the start of the meeting, name the result and the people who made it happen, then ask what the team did differently. The answer tells you which habit to make the standard for the next project.
What are some short achievement sayings for a card?
"It always seems impossible until it's done" is credited to Nelson Mandela, and "Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work" is credited to Aristotle. Both fit inside a card, and the free Recognition Ecards let you send one to a person or the whole team.
What does "Attributed to" mean on these quotes?
It means the quote is widely credited to that person, but there's no dated source behind it, like a book or an interview. Every quote without it traces back to a source you can cite.
Who said "It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit"?
It's most often credited to Harry S. Truman, but there's no dated source from him, and similar lines go back to the 1800s. Ronald Reagan kept a plaque with a version of it on his desk in the Oval Office.
More Leadership Quotes
Richard Gorham has led teams in financial services for more than 30 years, from retail branches and operations to investments and insurance, and he still leads a team today.
He founded Leadership-Tools.com in 2002 to give managers free, practical tools like the ones he used in his various leadership roles. Every tool here has been used in a real workplace and comes with a filled-in example you can follow.
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