Everybody starts at the top, and then has the problem of staying there. Lasting accomplishment, however, is still achieved through a long, slow climb and self-discipline.

Meaning of the quote

Everyone begins with high hopes and dreams, but the real challenge is maintaining that success over time. True, long-lasting achievements require patience, dedication, and self-discipline. It's not about reaching the top quickly, but rather steadily climbing your way there through hard work and determination.

About Helen Hayes

Helen Hayes was an acclaimed American actress who had an extensive career spanning over 80 years. She was known as the ‘First Lady of American Theatre’ and was the second person and first woman to achieve the prestigious EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) status. Helen Hayes was also the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting and received numerous other prestigious awards and honors throughout her distinguished career.

More about the author

More quotes from Helen Hayes

One has to grow up with good talk in order to form the habit of it.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

The worst constructed play is a Bach fugue when compared to life.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

Age is not important unless you’re a cheese.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

I’m leaving the screen because I don’t think I am very good in the pictures and I have this beautiful dream that I’m elegant on the stage.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

There’s a little vanity chair that Charlie gave me the first Christmas we knew each other. I’ll not be parting with that, nor our bed – the four-poster – I’ll be needing that to die in.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

Mere longevity is a good thing for those who watch Life from the side lines. For those who play the game, an hour may be a year, a single day’s work an achievement for eternity.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

The truth is that there is only one terminal dignity – love. And the story of a love is not important – what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

If you rest, you rust.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

The story of a love is not important-what is important is that one is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of eternity.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

Stardom can be a gilded slavery.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

Childhood is a short season.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

Everybody starts at the top, and then has the problem of staying there. Lasting accomplishment, however, is still achieved through a long, slow climb and self-discipline.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

People who refuse to rest honorably on their laurels when they reach retirement age seem very admirable to me.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

Legends die hard. They survive as truth rarely does.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

From your parents you learn love and laughter and how to put one foot before the other. But when books are opened you discover that you have wings.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

We relish news of our heroes, forgetting that we are extraordinary to somebody too.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

When traveling with someone, take large does of patience and tolerance with your morning coffee.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

Actors cannot choose the manner in which they are born. Consequently, it is the one gesture in their lives completely devoid of self-consciousness.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy, and it isn’t original sin. He’s born with the tragedy that he has to grow up… a lot of people don’t have the courage to do it.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

The good die young but not always. The wicked prevail but not consistently. I am confused by life, and I feel safe within the confines of the theatre.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

Only the poet can look beyond the detail and see the whole picture.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

There is only one terminal dignity – love.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

I cry out for order and find it only in art.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)

Actors work and slave and it is the color of your hair that can determine your fate in the end.

Helen Hayes

American actress (1900-1993)