Defining success with some quotes

Success- the criteria to define how well you have lived your life. We are always judging people by the success in their professional and of course personal  life. Yet how would we define success? Is it being better than others or is there a set of guidelines that grants us the label of being successful or failure? After all isn't the opposite of success- failure?

Professionally I guess being successful is reaching the top of the ladder or maybe achieving your goals in career. Of course, the price one pays for it is not accountable and you always pay a price for everything in life. The cost is time, and maybe health - mental and physical. I refuse to believe that what is defined as being successful in career is all without any sacrifice or price.

We all have 24 hrs given to us everyday. Some of us spend it with family and friends, some maybe just lazing around and others focused on their work. Every minute is limited, every second counts. Spending my time on achieving goals that will not give me any pleasure or satisfaction is a dishonor to the time given to me to live.  Even then , we are always trying to reach some place, trying to fulfill some crazy concept of success.

Ultimately what counts is how well we have lived our lives. What matters is how well we have played the cards dealt to us. It all boils down to how much we are loved and how much we love others. It all boils down to how we look at our lives. If I consider my life to be a success, because I have the tools to be happy, does it really matter what others define it as?

“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.”
― Albert Einstein

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” 

“Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

“The way to screw up somebody's life is to give them what they want.”
― Patrick Swayze

“You have succeeded in life when all you really WANT is only what you really NEED.”
― Vernon Howar

“Missing a train is only painful if you run after it! Likewise, not matching the idea of success others expect from you is only painful if that’s what you are seeking.”