failure quotes

A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in the experience.

The young think that failure is the Siberian end of the line, banishment from all the living, and tend to do what I then did – which was to hide.

Why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.

If thou art a man, admire those who attempt great things, even though they fail.

I’ve had a lot of success; I’ve had failures, so I learn from the failure.

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat.

There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.

I want to let you in on a little secret: I don’t always feel like I’m a success. That’s right. There are plenty of times when I feel like I’ve just totally messed up and failed to connect with the people I’m trying to communicate with.

If any organism fails to fulfill its potentialities, it becomes sick.

But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.

Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

Without failure there is no achievement.

Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life. Failure comes when we shrink from them.

If you read enough biography and history, you learn how people have dealt successfully or unsuccessfully with similar situations or patterns in the past. It doesn’t give you a template of answers, but it does help you refine the questions you have to ask yourself.

The topic of leadership is a touchy one. A lot of leaders fail because they don’t have the bravery to touch that nerve or strike that chord. Throughout my years, I haven’t had that fear.

The space shuttle was often used as an example of why you shouldn’t even attempt to make something reusable. But one failed experiment does not invalidate the greater goal. If that was the case, we’d never have had the light bulb.

If you look at space companies, they’ve failed either because they’ve had a technical solution where success was not a possible outcome, they were unable to attract a critical mass of talent, or they just ran out of money. The finish line is usually a lot further away than you think.

Your attitude towards failure determines your altitude after failure.

If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.

If something’s important enough, you should try. Even if – the probable outcome is failure.

One of the things I definitely think of as a driver of me is fear. And it’s fear of failure, fear of being overtaken.

Success or failure depends more upon attitude than upon capacity successful men act as though they have accomplished or are enjoying something. Soon it becomes a reality. Act, look, feel successful, conduct yourself accordingly, and you will be amazed at the positive results.

Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.

All human actions are equivalent and all are on principle doomed to failure.

Optimism is a kind of heart stimulant – the digitalis of failure.

Many a man’s strength is in opposition, and when he faileth, he grows out of use.

I failed to make the chess team because of my height.

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.

There’s a silly notion that failure’s not an option at NASA. Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.

Why should anybody be interested in some old man who was a failure?

Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something.

The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail.

If you or I fail at business, we fail. If we cheat and fail, we go to jail. But if you’re rich and politically connected, your incompetence may be protected by a government bailout.

No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.

I think you can have 10,000 explanations for failure, but no good explanation for success.

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.

I firmly believe that unless one has tasted the bitter pill of failure, one cannot aspire enough for success.

Failure means a stripping away of the inessential.

Failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.

I bought a company in the mid-’90s called Dexter Shoe and paid $400 million for it. And it went to zero. And I gave about $400 million worth of Berkshire stock, which is probably now worth $400 billion. But I’ve made lots of dumb decisions. That’s part of the game.

I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.

Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.

Success and failure are equally disastrous.

Success is often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.

Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.

One’s only rival is one’s own potentialities. One’s only failure is failing to live up to one’s own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king.

Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.

When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do we realise that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.