"Do not be in a hurry to succeed. What would you have to live for afterwards? Better make the horizon your goal; it will always be ahead of you"
About this Quote
Do not rush to the finish line, Thackeray suggests, because treating success as a final destination hollows life out the moment you arrive. The pointed question, What would you have to live for afterwards?, exposes the paradox of ambition: when achievement is framed as an endpoint, it carries within it the seed of emptiness. Better to orient yourself toward a horizon, a goal that recedes as you approach it, so that purpose lies in movement, curiosity, and growth rather than possession.
The horizon image suits Thackeray, a master satirist of Victorian striving. In Vanity Fair and other works, he skewers the fever to climb, to display, to be confirmed by society. Characters pursue rank, wealth, and applause only to discover that the prizes do not feed the hunger that drove them. The era of industrial expansion and self-help optimism prized speed and visible results; Thackeray’s counsel cuts across that grain. He does not oppose achievement, but he challenges the finish-line fallacy. Make your goal something inexhaustible: the refinement of character, the practice of a craft, the widening of sympathy. Such aims keep life animated because they are never fully done.
There is also a practical wisdom here. Haste invites shallow work and brittle identity. If you succeed too quickly by narrow measures, you risk tying your sense of self to a single outcome and then drifting once it is secured. A horizon-goal, by contrast, keeps you patient, adaptive, and resilient. It invites standards that stretch with you, turning setbacks into information rather than verdicts. Modern psychology would call this an antidote to hedonic adaptation: progress remains meaningful because the target evolves.
Thackeray’s line recollects his own long apprenticeship as a journalist and novelist, where serialization and revision rewarded steadiness over frenzy. Aim far, move steadily, and let purpose be found in the going. Success then becomes not a wall you crash into, but a byproduct of a life lived in pursuit of what always calls you onward.
The horizon image suits Thackeray, a master satirist of Victorian striving. In Vanity Fair and other works, he skewers the fever to climb, to display, to be confirmed by society. Characters pursue rank, wealth, and applause only to discover that the prizes do not feed the hunger that drove them. The era of industrial expansion and self-help optimism prized speed and visible results; Thackeray’s counsel cuts across that grain. He does not oppose achievement, but he challenges the finish-line fallacy. Make your goal something inexhaustible: the refinement of character, the practice of a craft, the widening of sympathy. Such aims keep life animated because they are never fully done.
There is also a practical wisdom here. Haste invites shallow work and brittle identity. If you succeed too quickly by narrow measures, you risk tying your sense of self to a single outcome and then drifting once it is secured. A horizon-goal, by contrast, keeps you patient, adaptive, and resilient. It invites standards that stretch with you, turning setbacks into information rather than verdicts. Modern psychology would call this an antidote to hedonic adaptation: progress remains meaningful because the target evolves.
Thackeray’s line recollects his own long apprenticeship as a journalist and novelist, where serialization and revision rewarded steadiness over frenzy. Aim far, move steadily, and let purpose be found in the going. Success then becomes not a wall you crash into, but a byproduct of a life lived in pursuit of what always calls you onward.
Quote Details
| Topic | Goal Setting |
|---|
More Quotes by William
Add to List
