proverb · Legacy record
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying makes success follow people occupied with work rather than searching for success itself. It favours attending to a task over preoccupation with recognition.
What the words are saying
Usually is a frequency claim the wording does not substantiate. A qualified application can distinguish useful effort from imagining rewards, without making busyness proof of progress. Planning, feedback and rest may all help a task; the phrase does not verify an attribution in the supplied gloss.
Everyday example
Someone checks what their activity actually produces instead of assuming a full schedule proves success.
When to use it
Use it to discuss purposeful effort rather than busyness alone.
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What it does not mean
No success rate or historical authorship is verified, and busyness does not guarantee progress.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- Contributor-provided proverb reference
Supplied reference A; unit 195; PDF page 32
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.