"A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means"
About this Quote
The subtext is anti-fatalism and, just as pointedly, anti-excuse. If you fail, Hazlitt implies, it’s often because the passion wasn’t strong enough to survive discomfort, boredom, or social friction. That’s bracing, even slightly moralistic: desire isn’t just a feeling, it’s a discipline that produces strategy. “Any object” universalizes the principle, smuggling in a democratic promise that success isn’t reserved for the already initiated; method can be learned if the appetite is real.
Context matters. Hazlitt wrote as a public intellectual in the long 20th century, arguing for individual choice and clear-eyed economics against fashionable collectivist certainties. In that ecosystem, “passion” isn’t romantic - it’s the engine of entrepreneurship, craftsmanship, reform. Still, the line flatters ambition by skipping structural limits: passion may reveal means, but it can’t always purchase them. The quote works because it’s half psychology, half ideology: a neat, optimistic syllogism that turns wanting into a kind of navigation system.
Quote Details
| Topic | Motivational |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Hazlitt, Henry. (2026, January 16). A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-strong-passion-for-any-object-will-ensure-122390/
Chicago Style
Hazlitt, Henry. "A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-strong-passion-for-any-object-will-ensure-122390/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-strong-passion-for-any-object-will-ensure-122390/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.












