Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), born enslaved and later the founding principal of Tuskegee Institute, frequently framed “success” in moral and practical terms rather than in wealth or rank. The sentiment in this quotation aligns with themes he developed in his public addresses and writings around the turn of the twentieth century, when he urged African Americans to pursue education, skilled work, and character-building amid Jim Crow segregation and limited opportunity. In that milieu, Washington often emphasized perseverance and self-improvement, arguing that achievement should be judged with attention to the barriers—social, economic, and racial—that individuals had to surmount.

The quotation redefines success as a relative, ethical measure rather than a simple tally of status. “Position” (rank, wealth, prestige) can conceal inherited advantage, luck, or structural privilege; “obstacles overcome” foregrounds effort, resilience, and the moral weight of striving under constraint. The idea also functions as a social critique: it implies that unequal conditions make direct comparisons of outcomes misleading. In Washington’s broader rhetorical world, this standard dignifies incremental progress and endurance—especially for people facing systemic barriers—while encouraging a disciplined, forward-looking approach to personal development and communal uplift.