"The person who has the will to undergo all labor may win any goal"
About this Quote
Menander’s line is ambition stripped of mythology: no gods, no noble birth, no grand destiny, just grit. Coming out of the post-Alexander Greek world, where the old city-state heroics were giving way to private life and social maneuvering, that’s not an accident. Menander helped define New Comedy, a genre obsessed with the everyday machinery of getting by: debts, marriages, status, luck. Against that backdrop, the quote reads like a pragmatic antidote to chaos. If fortune is fickle and institutions wobble, “will” becomes the one property a person can claim as truly theirs.
The phrasing matters. “Undergo all labor” isn’t romantic hustle; it’s endurance, even submission, a willingness to be shaped by effort. Menander isn’t praising inspiration, he’s praising tolerance for tedium. That’s a pointed cultural pivot: excellence is no longer reserved for the epic battlefield but for the long, unglamorous grind. It’s also a subtle form of social advice. In a world where hierarchy is real, telling people they can “win any goal” sounds egalitarian, but the fine print is brutal: you’ll pay for it in work, and the work may be everything.
There’s an almost transactional subtext: desire plus sustained effort equals outcome. The line sells agency, but it also disciplines the reader, implying that failure is less tragedy than insufficient willingness. Menander offers empowerment with a sting.
The phrasing matters. “Undergo all labor” isn’t romantic hustle; it’s endurance, even submission, a willingness to be shaped by effort. Menander isn’t praising inspiration, he’s praising tolerance for tedium. That’s a pointed cultural pivot: excellence is no longer reserved for the epic battlefield but for the long, unglamorous grind. It’s also a subtle form of social advice. In a world where hierarchy is real, telling people they can “win any goal” sounds egalitarian, but the fine print is brutal: you’ll pay for it in work, and the work may be everything.
There’s an almost transactional subtext: desire plus sustained effort equals outcome. The line sells agency, but it also disciplines the reader, implying that failure is less tragedy than insufficient willingness. Menander offers empowerment with a sting.
Quote Details
| Topic | Perseverance |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Menander. (n.d.). The person who has the will to undergo all labor may win any goal. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-person-who-has-the-will-to-undergo-all-labor-115224/
Chicago Style
Menander. "The person who has the will to undergo all labor may win any goal." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-person-who-has-the-will-to-undergo-all-labor-115224/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The person who has the will to undergo all labor may win any goal." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-person-who-has-the-will-to-undergo-all-labor-115224/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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