--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A successful person isn't necessarily…" description: "\"A successful person isn't necessarily better than her less successful peers at solving problems; her pattern-recognition facilities have just learned w..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a16/ray-kurzweil-3529_patterns_a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-be_940802.jpg" --- # A successful person isn't necessarily better than her less… ![“A successful person isn't necessarily better than her less successful peers at solving problems; her pattern-recognition facilities have just learned what problems are worth solving.” quote by Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a16/ray-kurzweil-3529_patterns_a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-be_940802.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a16/ray-kurzweil-3529_patterns_a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-be_940802.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a16/ray-kurzweil-3529_patterns_a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-be_940802.jpg) > “A successful person isn't necessarily better than her less successful peers at solving problems; her pattern-recognition facilities have just learned what problems are worth solving.” [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Success stems from recognizing valuable problems, not just solving any. **In simple terms:** Seeing the right problems matters more than solving many. Key Takeaway Focus on high‑impact challenges. Themes success recognition problem solving Mood inspirational analytical Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - career advancement - entrepreneurship - research prioritization - product development Key Concepts cognitive bias pattern recognition value theory Questions to Reflect On - What problems do you ignore? - How can you train better pattern recognition? A Different Perspective May overlook less obvious but critical issues. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Patterns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patterns/) [Problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problem/) [Problem solving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problem-solving/) [Programming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/programming/) [Recognition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recognition/) [Success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/success/) [Successful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/successful/) [Successful person](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/successful-person/) ## Related quotes > [If you are inspiring others to do better, you're successful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mod-sun/if-you-are-inspiring-others-to-do-better-you-re-successful/) [Mod Sun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mod-sun/) > [I think our sport is much better off with a successful female driver in NASCAR.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denny-hamlin/i-think-our-sport-is-much-better-off-with-a-successful-female-driver/) [Denny Hamlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denny-hamlin/) > [Every successful person needs to have at least one person in their life who's not afraid of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-van-zandt/every-successful-person-needs-to-have-at-least-one-person-in-their/) [Steven Van Zandt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-van-zandt/) > [Courage is all you need to be a successful person. Even to be successful in defending your LOVE. -](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ritu-ghatourey/courage-is-all-you-need-to-be-a-successful-person-even-to-be/) [Ritu Ghatourey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ritu-ghatourey/) > [The good part of what comics trains you to do is it trains you - especially if you've worked in mainstream comics like Marvel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-brubaker/the-good-part-of-what-comics-trains-you-to-do-is-it-trains-you/) [Ed Brubaker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-brubaker/) > [“Behind every successful person is a relentless work ethic, the ability to block out distractions, and a well-defined six-pack of self-control. Find creative ways…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lilly-singh/behind-every-successful-person-is-a-relentless-work-ethic-the-ability/) [Lilly Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lilly-singh/) > [“If a society has no moral foundations then success is a threat. Every successful person thinks everyone else is a failure, and this is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wasif-ali-wasif/if-a-society-has-no-moral-foundations-then-success-is-a-threat-every/) [Wasif Ali Wasif](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wasif-ali-wasif/) > [The successful person has unusual skill at dealing with conflict and ensuring the best outcome for all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/the-successful-person-has-unusual-skill-at-dealing-with-conflict-and/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [There's no question that positive thinking has a place in business. \[...just as it has in the the rest of a happy, successful person's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mason/there-s-no-question-that-positive-thinking-has-a-place-in-business/) David Mason > [Every successful person in life began by pursuing a passion, usually against all odds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kiyosaki/every-successful-person-in-life-began-by-pursuing-a-passion-usually/) [Robert Kiyosaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kiyosaki/) > [Every successful person has faced, attacked, and conquered adversity somewhere along the way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-cottrell/every-successful-person-has-faced-attacked-and-conquered-adversity/) [David Cottrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-cottrell/) > [“Success is a choice; you choose it and work it out! Excellence is deliberate and so it is intentionally pursued. No successful person ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/success-is-a-choice-you-choose-it-and-work-it-out-excellence-is/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) > [Being aware of your fear is smart. Overcoming it is the mark of a successful person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/being-aware-of-your-fear-is-smart-overcoming-it-is-the-mark-of-a/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [Poor and most middle-class people believe "If I have a lot of money, I could do what I want and I'd be a success."…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-harv-eker/poor-and-most-middle-class-people-believe-if-i-have-a-lot-of-money-i/) [T. Harv Eker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-harv-eker/) > [Remember, success is not measured by heights attained but by obstacles overcome. We're going to pass through many obstacles in our lives: good days,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-jenner/remember-success-is-not-measured-by-heights-attained-but-by-obstacles/) [Bruce Jenner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-jenner/) ## More by Ray Kurzweil > [We are beginning to see intimations of this in the implantation of computer devices into the human body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/we-are-beginning-to-see-intimations-of-this-in-the-implantation-of/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [The telephone is virtual reality in that you can meet with someone as if you are together, at least for the auditory sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/the-telephone-is-virtual-reality-in-that-you-can-meet-with-someone-as/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [By 2010 computers will disappear. They'll be so small, they'll be embedded in our clothing, in our environment. Images will be written directly to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/by-2010-computers-will-disappear-they-ll-be-so-small-they-ll-be/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [All different forms of human expression, art, science, are going to become expanded, by expanding our intelligence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/all-different-forms-of-human-expression-art-science-are-going-to/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [Doing real world projects is, I think, the best way to learn and also to engage the world and find out what the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/doing-real-world-projects-is-i-think-the-best-way-to-learn-and-also/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [Take death for example. A great deal of our effort goes into avoiding it. We make extraordinary efforts to delay it, and often consider…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/take-death-for-example-a-great-deal-of-our-effort-goes-into-avoiding/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [By the time we get to the 2040s, we'll be able to multiply human intelligence a billionfold. That will be a profound change that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/by-the-time-we-get-to-the-2040s-we-ll-be-able-to-multiply-human/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [We're democratizing the tools of creativity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/we-re-democratizing-the-tools-of-creativity/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [A Singularitarian is someone who understands the Singularity and has reflected on its meaning for his or her own life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/a-singularitarian-is-someone-who-understands-the-singularity-and-has/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [A lot of movies about artificial intelligence envision that AIs will be very intelligent but missing some key emotional qualities of humans and therefore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/a-lot-of-movies-about-artificial-intelligence-envision-that-ais-will/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [The key issue as to whether or not a non-biological entity deserves rights really comes down to whether or not it's conscious… Does it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/the-key-issue-as-to-whether-or-not-a-non-biological-entity-deserves/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [We'll be able to have very intelligent, little robots with computers going inside our bloodstream, keeping us healthy from inside, destroying cancer at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/we-ll-be-able-to-have-very-intelligent-little-robots-with-computers/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [The ethical debates are like stones in a stream. The water runs around them. You haven't seen any biological technologies held up for one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/the-ethical-debates-are-like-stones-in-a-stream-the-water-runs-around/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [By the end of this decade, computers will disappear as distinct physical objects, with displays built in our eyeglasses, and electronics woven in our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/by-the-end-of-this-decade-computers-will-disappear-as-distinct/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) > [As you go out to the 2040s, now the bulk of our thinking is out in the cloud. The biological portion of our brain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/as-you-go-out-to-the-2040s-now-the-bulk-of-our-thinking-is-out-in-the/) [Ray Kurzweil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) [Explore all 127 Ray Kurzweil quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/) ## More Patterns quotes > [A lot of indigenous cultures are deeply involved in working with ancestor spirits, elemental spirits, and demons. Many of these cultures feel that, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-pinchbeck/a-lot-of-indigenous-cultures-are-deeply-involved-in-working-with/) [Daniel Pinchbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-pinchbeck/) > [Government schools, with your tax money, now discourage the teaching of multiplication tables by rote memorization but teach reading by the 'look-and-say' method which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-perry/government-schools-with-your-tax-money-now-discourage-the-teaching-of/) Greg Perry > [If you choose to draw from the inner well of free will, then you can make choices that are outside your current karmic patterns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/if-you-choose-to-draw-from-the-inner-well-of-free-will-then-you-can/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Thoroughly understand what it is to understand, and not only will you understand the broad lines of all there is to be understood but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-lonergan/thoroughly-understand-what-it-is-to-understand-and-not-only-will-you/) [Bernard Lonergan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-lonergan/) > [Memories seem to surface in no particular order, with no time attached. Yesterday can seem as distant as last year. My life now consists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-olsson/memories-seem-to-surface-in-no-particular-order-with-no-time-attached/) [Linda Olsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-olsson/) > [Elevated locations imply elevated purposes, even in American cities departing as radically as Los Angeles does from the traditional planning patterns of the Eastern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-filler/elevated-locations-imply-elevated-purposes-even-in-american-cities/) [Martin Filler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-filler/) > [I don't know if I've come of age, but I'm certainly older now. I feel shrunken, as if there's a tiny ancient Oliver Tate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-dunthorne/i-don-t-know-if-i-ve-come-of-age-but-i-m-certainly-older-now-i-feel/) [Joe Dunthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-dunthorne/) > [Studying Sol's interior by looking for analogous patterns on its incandescent face is known as helioseismology, an active - if largely unpronounceable - research…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-shostak/studying-sol-s-interior-by-looking-for-analogous-patterns-on-its/) [Seth Shostak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-shostak/) > [Finding patterns is easy in any kind of data-rich environment; that's what mediocre gamblers do. The key is in determining whether the patterns represent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nate-silver/finding-patterns-is-easy-in-any-kind-of-data-rich-environment-that-s/) [Nate Silver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nate-silver/) > [When we have the same thought again, the line of the original thought is deepened, causing what's called a memory trace. With each repetition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lysa-terkeurst/when-we-have-the-same-thought-again-the-line-of-the-original-thought/) [Lysa TerKeurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lysa-terkeurst/) > [Instead of weeping when a tragedy occurs in a songbird's life, it sings away its grief. I believe we could well follow the pattern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/instead-of-weeping-when-a-tragedy-occurs-in-a-songbird-s-life-it/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Write against patterns. Go against the devils. Write what you never write. Lie. Validate what you don’t validate. Indulge what you don’t like. Wallow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deena-metzger/write-against-patterns-go-against-the-devils-write-what-you-never/) [Deena Metzger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deena-metzger/) > [Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole city is affected by the licentious passions and vices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/be-a-pattern-to-others-and-then-all-will-go-well-for-as-a-whole-city/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [The United States can certainly defeat North Vietnam, but the United States cannot defeat a guerrilla war which is being raged from a sanctuary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zbigniew-brzezinski/the-united-states-can-certainly-defeat-north-vietnam-but-the-united/) [Zbigniew Brzezinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zbigniew-brzezinski/) > [It's incredibly dangerous to leave an abuser, because the final step in the domestic violence pattern is: kill her.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-morgan-steiner/it-s-incredibly-dangerous-to-leave-an-abuser-because-the-final-step/) [Leslie Morgan Steiner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-morgan-steiner/) [Browse all 2,183 Patterns quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patterns/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A successful person isn't necessarily better than her less successful peers at solving problems; her pattern-recognition facilities have just learned what problems are worth solving.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ray Kurzweil" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-better-than-her-less-successful/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Patterns" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-better-than-her-less-successful/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a16/ray-kurzweil-3529_patterns_a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-be_940802.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a16/ray-kurzweil-3529_patterns_a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-be_940802.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a16/ray-kurzweil-3529_patterns_a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-be_940802.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A successful person isn't necessarily better than her less successful peers at solving problems; her…” — Ray Kurzweil", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ray Kurzweil", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-kurzweil/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A successful person isn't necessarily better...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-better-than-her-less-successful/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-kurzweil/a-successful-person-isn-t-necessarily-better-than-her-less-successful/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```