--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If you want it you must obtain it by…" description: "\"If you want it you must obtain it by great labor.\" — T. S. Eliot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a20/t-s-eliot-633_basketball_if-you-want-it-you-must-obtain-it-by-gre_339347.png" --- # If you want it you must obtain it by great labor. ![“If you want it you must obtain it by great labor.” quote by T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a20/t-s-eliot-633_basketball_if-you-want-it-you-must-obtain-it-by-gre_339347.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a20/t-s-eliot-633_basketball_if-you-want-it-you-must-obtain-it-by-gre_339347.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a20/t-s-eliot-633_basketball_if-you-want-it-you-must-obtain-it-by-gre_339347.png) > “If you want it you must obtain it by great labor.” [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Achieving a goal requires diligent effort; success is earned through hard work, not wishful thinking. **In simple terms:** Hard work is necessary to get what you want. Key Takeaway Commit to disciplined effort. Themes effort achievement discipline Mood determined motivational Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career advancement - academic study - artistic creation - personal fitness Key Concepts work ethic goal setting perseverance Questions to Reflect On - What tasks require the most effort for you? - How do you balance effort with rest? A Different Perspective Great labor can be exhausting and may not guarantee success without strategy. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Basketball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/basketball/) [Individual talent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual-talent/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labor/) [Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition/) ## Related quotes > [We tend to always want to obtain something new and something more, and we never really enjoy what we have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-david/we-tend-to-always-want-to-obtain-something-new-and-something-more-and/) [Craig David](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-david/) > [Certainly if we hope do enhance and extend whatever natural assets we were given, we must expect to make an effort, if not actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dixie-carter/certainly-if-we-hope-do-enhance-and-extend-whatever-natural-assets-we/) [Dixie Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dixie-carter/) > [You desire to be learned, wealthy, and great, without labor; it is one of the follies still extant in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-pope-morris/you-desire-to-be-learned-wealthy-and-great-without-labor-it-is-one-of/) [George Pope Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-pope-morris/) > [The historical sense compels a man to write not merely with his own generation in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-historical-sense-compels-a-man-to-write-not-merely-with-his-own/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/poetry-is-not-a-turning-loose-of-emotion-but-an-escape-from-emotion-3/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The most important things are actually the easiest to obtain: great friends, good food, and a decent bottle of wine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blake-mycoskie/the-most-important-things-are-actually-the-easiest-to-obtain-great/) [Blake Mycoskie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blake-mycoskie/) > [Few enterprises of great labor or hazard would be undertaken if we had not the power of magnifying the advantages we expect from them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/few-enterprises-of-great-labor-or-hazard-would-be-undertaken-if-we/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [For with slight efforts how should we obtain great results? 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It's something about me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zach-anner/cp-is-a-struggle-but-it-s-also-been-quite-the-tool-for-me-to-find/) [Zach Anner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zach-anner/) > [Many people think of me as just a riff guitarist, but I think of myself in broader terms. As a musician I think my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-page/many-people-think-of-me-as-just-a-riff-guitarist-but-i-think-of/) [Jimmy Page](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-page/) > [America excels not just through sheer individual talent but by working together with others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-hsien-loong/america-excels-not-just-through-sheer-individual-talent-but-by/) [Lee Hsien Loong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-hsien-loong/) > [Each of us must make the effort to contribute to the best of our ability according to our individual talents. And then we put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wooden/each-of-us-must-make-the-effort-to-contribute-to-the-best-of-our/) [John Wooden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wooden/) > [There are certain things which are lost by being kept and saved by being used. Any individual talent is like that. If it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barclay/there-are-certain-things-which-are-lost-by-being-kept-and-saved-by/) [William Barclay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barclay/) ## More by T. S. Eliot > [The Nobel is a ticket to one's own funeral. No one has ever done anything after he got it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-nobel-is-a-ticket-to-one-s-own-funeral-no-one-has-ever-done/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Dear Mother, I am getting on nicely in my work at the bank, and like it ... I want to find out something about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/dear-mother-i-am-getting-on-nicely-in-my-work-at-the-bank-and-like-it/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, But the faith and the love and the hope are all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/for-love-would-be-love-of-the-wrong-thing-there-is-yet-faith-but-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We must always take risks. That is our destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-must-always-take-risks-that-is-our-destiny/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [All significant truths are private truths. As they become public they cease to become truths; they become facts, or at best, part of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/all-significant-truths-are-private-truths-as-they-become-public-they/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [When forced to work within a strict framework, the imagination is taxed to its utmost and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/when-forced-to-work-within-a-strict-framework-the-imagination-is/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/honest-criticism-and-sensitive-appreciation-are-directed-not-upon-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Desire itself is movement Not in itself desirable; Love is itself unmoving, Only the cause and end of movement, Timeless, and undesiring Except in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/desire-itself-is-movement-not-in-itself-desirable-love-is-itself/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [ the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. \[He\] falls in love or reads Spinoza, and these two experiences have nothing to do with… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-ordinary-man-s-experience-is-chaotic-irregular-fragmentary-he/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We had the experience, but we missed the meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-had-the-experience-but-we-missed-the-meaning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The end is in the beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-end-is-in-the-beginning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [You have learned enough to see that cats are much like you and me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/you-have-learned-enough-to-see-that-cats-are-much-like-you-and-me/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-good-poet-welds-his-theft-into-a-whole-of-feeling-which-is-unique/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [It's strange that words are so inadequate. Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath, so the lover must struggle for words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/it-s-strange-that-words-are-so-inadequate-yet-like-the-asthmatic/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Every end is a beginning...And every beginning is an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/every-end-is-a-beginning-and-every-beginning-is-an-end/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) [Explore all 433 T. S. Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## More Basketball quotes > [We love playing together and we love adversity. You know, back-to-back, the two best teams in the East.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-nash/we-love-playing-together-and-we-love-adversity-you-know-back-to-back/) [Steve Nash](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-nash/) > [I don't look at myself as a basketball coach. 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It was just, you know, just about me growing… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shaquille-o-neal/i-failed-i-think-seven-or-eight-times-before-i-finally-got-my-first/) [Shaquille O'Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shaquille-o-neal/) > [It's not how big you are, it's how big you play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-wooden/it-s-not-how-big-you-are-it-s-how-big-you-play/) [John Wooden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-wooden/) > [Basketball isn't just a sport to me ; it's my ecstasy !](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamira-robinson/basketball-isn-t-just-a-sport-to-me-it-s-my-ecstasy/) [Jamira Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamira-robinson/) > [It's similar to basketball: when you go to different gyms and win or lose, you learn something new. So when kids get out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-iguodala/it-s-similar-to-basketball-when-you-go-to-different-gyms-and-win-or/) [Andre Iguodala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-iguodala/) > [If a Coach is determined to stay in the coaching profession, he will develop from year to year. This much is true, no coach…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolph-rupp/if-a-coach-is-determined-to-stay-in-the-coaching-profession-he-will/) [Adolph Rupp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolph-rupp/) > [And I want to do it the right way, like everybody else, not just a famous figurehead that gets a job because he is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shaquille-o-neal/and-i-want-to-do-it-the-right-way-like-everybody-else-not-just-a/) [Shaquille O'Neal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shaquille-o-neal/) > [Well, you can certainly teach free-throwing. And you can teach the boys to pass at angles and run in curves. - University of Kansas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darryl-dawkins/well-you-can-certainly-teach-free-throwing-and-you-can-teach-the-boys/) [Darryl Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darryl-dawkins/) > [Practice to beat the best.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-bennett/practice-to-beat-the-best/) [Dick Bennett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-bennett/) > [I'm a competitive person. I love the game of basketball. 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