“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary” is a saying that dates to at least 1953. The saying means that work leads to success; success doesn’t come without working for it. The saying has been very popular in business.
Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi (1913-1970) is often given credit for the “success comes before work only in the dictionary” saying, but the saying had been well-known before Lombardi ever coached the Packers.
31 July 1953, Richardson (TX) Echo,“Moments,” pg. 2, col.2:
Only in the dictionary will you find success coming before work.
Google News Archive
6 August 1954, Spokane (WA) Daily Chronicle,“You Betcha!,” pg.1, col.1:
The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.
6 October 1955, Moulton (IA) Weekly Tribune, “Squirts and Squeaks from the Back Shop,” pg. 2, col. 5:
Success comes before work only in the dictionary.
Google Books
Fitting Yourself for Business
By Elizabeth Gregg MacGibbon
New York, NY: Gregg Pub. Division, McGraw-Hill
1955
Pg. 226:
Bear in mind that the dictionary is the only place where Success comes before Work.
Google Books
The Greatest Quotations of All-Time
By Anthony St. Peter
Xlibris Corporation
2010
Pg. 596:
The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary. Vince Lombardi
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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