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About this quote

What does it mean?
Success requires active effort rather than waiting for things to happen.
In plain terms
Things only improve when someone takes action to make them better.
What can you take from it?
Take action to make things happen.

Where it applies

  • career development
  • problem solving
  • personal growth

Putting it to work

  • take initiative at work
  • solve problems actively
  • drive personal projects

Questions to consider

  • What stops you from taking initiative?
  • How can you turn a situation around?

Another view

Sometimes external factors prevent progress regardless of effort.

More from James A. Garfield

  1. The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.

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  2. The President is the last person in the world to know what the people really want and think.

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  3. The possession of great powers no doubt carries with it a contempt for mere external show.

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