Meanings
- People who are already successful tend to have additional successes.
Always rising, Mr. Delamayn rose next to be Attorney-General. About the same time—so true it is that "nothing succeeds like success"—a childless relative died and left him a fortune.
1870, Wilkie Collins, Man and Wife, Prologue3 more examples
I gained considerable kudos for a lucky catch . . . and, as nothing succeeds like success, and the constant encouragement of the one great cricketer on the field was in itself an immense stimulus, I actually made a run or two in my very next innings.
1899, E. W. Hornung, “Gentlemen and Players”, in The Amateur CracksmanThe theory of programmed learning is that nothing succeeds like success. It holds that some subjects are learned best when broken into tiny chunks of information that students can master one by one, each step providing its own little thrill of accomplishment.
1962 October 12, “Education: All-Programmed School”, in TimeIn television, nothing succeeds like success. So it was Sunday night at the 61st annual Primetime Emmy Awards, where five of the top six categories featured repeat winners from last year.
2009 September 20, Edward Wyatt, “Familiarity and a Few Surprises at the Emmys”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 Dec 2012Synonyms: those that have, get
Synonyms & antonyms
proverbPeople who are already successful tend to have additional successes.
Cite this entry
nothing succeeds like success. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nothing%20succeeds%20like%20success
“nothing succeeds like success.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nothing%20succeeds%20like%20success. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nothing succeeds like success,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nothing%20succeeds%20like%20success.
Source: nothing succeeds like success on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.