— Attributed to A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; no primary source identified
About this quote
हिन्दी में
सफलता का असली स्वाद कठिनाइयों से गुज़रकर ही मिलता है — इसीलिए इंसान को अपनी मुश्किलों की ज़रूरत होती है।
What it means
The claim here is narrower than it first looks. Kalam does not say difficulty builds character, or that hardship is noble; he says difficulty is what makes success enjoyable. Remove the obstacle and you do not get an easier victory, you get a victory that registers as almost nothing.
It is worth keeping because it explains a common and confusing experience: the promotion, the result, the house that finally arrives and feels flat. The line locates the missing ingredient not in the achievement but in what it cost to reach. Read carelessly it becomes a defence of unnecessary suffering — but the sentence says difficulties are needed for the enjoyment of success, not that more hardship produces more success.
What it teaches you
When a win leaves you unmoved, check whether it actually asked anything of you before concluding the goal was wrong. And in the middle of a hard stretch, separate the parts that are load-bearing — the ones your eventual result will be measured against — from the friction you simply have not bothered to remove, because only the first kind is what this line dignifies.
अर्थ और सीख
कलाम की इस पंक्ति का दावा सीमित है — वे यह नहीं कहते कि कठिनाई आपको मज़बूत बनाती है, बल्कि यह कि कठिनाई के बिना सफलता का स्वाद ही नहीं आता। जो जीत बिना किसी कीमत के मिल जाए, वह मिलते ही फीकी लगती है। सीख यह है कि अगर कोई उपलब्धि खाली-सी लगे तो पहले देखिए कि उसने आपसे माँगा क्या था, और मुश्किल के बीच यह पहचानिए कि उसका कौन-सा हिस्सा सचमुच ज़रूरी है और कौन-सा बेकार की रुकावट।
