Men judge us by the success of our efforts. God looks at the efforts themselves.

The saying contrasts two standards of evaluation: human society’s tendency to measure worth by visible outcomes (“success”) versus a religious or moral perspective that values intention, perseverance, and sincerity of effort regardless of results. It implies that external judgment is often contingent and unfair—dependent on circumstances, opportunity, or luck—while divine judgment is portrayed as inward and just, attending to character and striving. Read this way, the line offers consolation to those whose work is overlooked or fails publicly, and it also cautions the successful against equating achievement with moral merit. The emphasis on effort aligns with a Protestant-inflected ethic of conscience and duty rather than mere worldly triumph.