What is TRUE Success in Life?

I love reading President Ikeda's words. They are infused with the energy of life...

This morning I chanted for over an hour and did gongyo. It is an important day, I have a speech to give in the morning, a presentation to business referral sources in the afternoon, and it is also a big day personally. 

My son is being interviewed for placement in a community that will be very positive for his life. The results they show regarding the people who have lived there are remarkable. People are living lives of value...just the answer to my prayer for my son. It is two states away...about an 8 hour drive, but I'm sure, as any parent would know, that I would fly with him to the moon and back if I thought it would be a positive experience for him that would impact his life. I will miss him. But I am happy for him. It is the answer to my prayer. It IS the result of trusting the Gohonzon (the power within my own life).

So I pulled out my favorite book of Daisaku Ikeda quotes for you - Faith in Action. It has quotes arranges by category. I truly could just publish the whole book on this blog because every one of the quotes is impactful, but for today I'll just choose a few under SUCCESS. 
From Faith in Action, page 68:

"What is success in life? 
Who are the truly successful? 
There are famous and powerful people 
who become pitiful figures in their old age. 
There are people who die alone, 
feeling empty and desolate. 
Just what is success? 

The English thinker Walter Pater (1839-94) wrote:

"To burn always with this hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life."

The person who lives life fully, glowing with life's energy, is the person who lives a successful life."

Yes! 

and on the same page:

"Such things as money, fame and material possessions 
offer fleeting satisfaction 
that can be called relative happiness. 
However, when we transform our lives internally, 
when we develop within ourselves a brilliant inner palace, then we can be said 
to have established absolute happiness."

Daisaku Ikeda

Now, that's not to say that we can't, or should not have wealth, or fortunes of the storehouse. This practice is not about taking a vow of poverty. But we all know, that yes, money is great because we can do so much good with it, but money alone does not bring happiness. It is our inner state of life, our towering conviction that NO MATTER WHAT LIFE PRESENTS TO US - No matter what.. We will win. We can bring forth our own Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and win. That is fortune!