A wooden figure pushes a wheelbarrow of bricks beside three figures resting in a green hammock.

Original artwork, not a still

Don Marquis

The successful people are the ones that think up things for the rest of the world to keep busy at.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The aphorism defines success through devising activities that occupy other people. It draws attention to directing work rather than supplying a universal explanation of achievement.

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