Some 50 goals have been set over the UN's life, from goals for education in 1960 to the MDGs agreed at the Millennium Summit in New York in 2000. Cynics have charged that UN goals have been proposed and agreed with little thought, and rarely achieved. Based on research conducted for the UN Intellectual History Project, this short article argues that in fact, there has always been widespread discussion before approving goals and more progress in implementing them than is commonly recognised. And although the record of achievement is mixed and far from perfect, most of the goals have had considerable influence and many have been considerably achieved by a considerable number of countries.