You Reap What You Sow.

"You reap what you sow."

This seems to be like a popular "karma" type quote, but I didn't really know about it until a few months ago. I was looking for "karma" type quotes like "what goes around comes around", but something a little different and deeper. I came across this one on a random site, had to look up the meaning of reap and I just loved it. Reap is bascially a farming term synonmous to "harvest" when talking about crops. So now I seem to hear this quote all the time, especially in songs. I also think of this quote all the time and say it to myself quite a bit. Although it does have some of the "karma" aspect to it (like you get what you give), I see it in another way too.
Like my previous post, this doesn't apply to everything especially aspects of life you can't control (i.e. other people). I still think it can apply in a lot of areas of life. In literal terms, you harvest or collect crops that you sow/plant. If you planted tomatoes, you wouldn't expect to harvest cucumbers from that plant.
So, in the metaphorical sense, if you put in no effort or dedication into something, then you can't expect extreme success as an outcome. I have noticed a lot of people (especially my age range) wanting to put in little effort, but get the achievement level that actually requires effort. One main example is school. Sure I guess "school isn't for some people", but I also feel like that's just an excuse. Excuse after excuse doesn't really get you far in life. At the end of the day, you can't expect to have wonderful grades if all you do is party and play around in college. These are the people that plant tomatoes and a few months later come back confused because they wanted cucumbers!

This is exactly why I put my all into things that are important to me in life. I follow this way in school, work, relationships with people I care about, etc. 
What is the point of doing something halfway if you want the end result to be success instead of partial success or even failure?
If you want cucumbers, then you have to plant cucumbers! :)