Past failures are guideposts to success.
—Unknown
Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure.
—Jack Lemmon (1925–2001) American Actor, Musician
You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.
—Johnny Cash (1932–2003) American Country Music Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist
Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody.
—Joseph Heller (1923–99) American Novelist
Success requires persistence, the ability to not give up in the face of failure. I believe that optimistic explanatory style is the key to persistence.
—Martin Seligman (b.1942) American Psychologist, Author
One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake.
—Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian Short-Story Writer
Everyone fails. But that doesn’t mean you must identify yourself as a failure. Failure applies to a situation, a particular time and place. If you don’t let it devastate you, failure can be an opportunity: for learning, for recovery, for the creation and demonstration of character. No one wins all the time. Learn to take your losses, learn from them if possible, and move on.
—Gary Ryan Blair
The only real failure in life is one not learned from.
—Anthony J. D’Angelo
There is no failure for the man who realizes his power, who never knows when he is beaten; there is no failure for the determined endeavor; the unconquerable will. There is no failure for the man who gets up every time he falls, who rebounds like a rubber ball, who persists when everyone else gives up, who pushes on when everyone else turns back.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Life is a sheet of paper white, Whereon each one of us may write His word or two, and then comes night. Greatly begin! Though thou have time But for a line, be that sublime—Not failure, but low aim, is crime.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Failure sometimes enlarges the spirit. You have to fall back upon humanity and God.
—Charles Cooley (1864–1929) American Sociologist
A hard fall means a high bounce… if you’re made of the right material.
—Unknown
Failure is the path of least resistance.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist
Men do not fail; they give up trying.
—Elihu Root (1845–1937) American Jurist, Statesman
A man who has committed a mistake and doesn’t correct it is committing another mistake.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
If standard of living is your major objective, quality of life almost never improves, but if quality of life is your number one objective, your standard of living almost always improves.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
You’re on the road to success when you realize that failure is only a detour.
—Unknown
Before you give up hope, turn back and read the attacks that were made upon Lincoln.
—Bruce Fairchild Barton (1886–1967) American Author, Advertising Executive, Politician
Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.
—John Wooden (1910–2010) American Sportsperson
Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989) Irish Novelist, Playwright
On this path effort never goes to waste, and there is no failure. Even a little effort toward spiritual awareness will protect you from the greatest fear.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
I am never a failure until I begin blaming others.
—Anonymous
Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do. More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known told the author their greatest came just one step *beyond* the point at which defeat had overtaken them.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail of success.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
He’s not the finest character that ever lived. But he’s a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid.
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
Let fear be a counselor and not a jailer.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
The third level of wanting is “I commit to being rich”. The definition of the word commit is to “devote oneself unreservedly”. This means holding absolutely nothing back; giving 100 percent of everything you’ve got to achieving wealth. It means being willing to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes. This is the warrior’s way. No excuses, no ifs, no butts, no maybes—and failure isn’t an option. The warrior’s way is simple: “I will be rich or I will die trying”.
—T. Harv Eker (b.1954) American Motivational Speaker, Lecturer, Author
It is confidence in our bodies, minds and spirits that allows us to keep looking for new adventures, new directions to grow in, and new lessons to learn—which is what life is all about.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Try as we may, none of us can be free of conflict and woe. Even the greatest men have had to accept disappointments as their daily bread…. The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them. Man and society must grow together. Each individual’s efforts to discipline himself must be matched by society’s struggle to enforce the rules of law and of justice under the law.
—Bernard M. Baruch (1870–1965) American Financier, Economic Consultant
I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately triumph than to triumph in a cause that will ultimately fail
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) American Head of State
When you stand at the edge of the cliff, jump to fly, not to fall.
—Indian Proverb
A man’s life is interesting primarily when he has failed — I well know. For it’s a sign that he tried to surpass himself.
—Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) French Head of State, Physician, Publisher, Political leader
Clear writers, like clear fountains, do not seem so deep as they are; the turbid seem the most profound.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Success and failure are both difficult to endure. Along with success come drugs, divorce, fornication, bullying, travel, meditation, medication, depression, neurosis and suicide. With failure comes failure.
—Joseph Heller (1923–99) American Novelist
Genius is often only the power of making continuous efforts. The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it—so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it. How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience, would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out, so it comes clear in. In business sometimes prospects may seem darkest when really they are on the turn. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Show me a good and gracious loser and I’ll show you a failure.
—Knute Rockne (1888–1931) American College Football Coach
Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterward carefully avoid.
—John Keats (1795–1821) English Poet
I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. Out of the hard and unusual struggle through which he is compelled to pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by reason of birth and race.
—Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American Educationist
The most important of my discoveries have been suggested to me by my failures.
—Humphry Davy (1778–1829) British Chemist, Inventor
Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Discouragement is of all ages: In youth it is a presentiment, in old age a remembrance.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.
—George Edward Woodberry (1855–1930) American Literary Critic, Poet
No matter how far you have gone on a wrong road, turn back.
—Turkish Proverb
Failure is the foundation of success, and the means by which it is achieved.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage