Quotes on failure

Failure means a stripping away of the inessential.
J. K. Rowling

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.
James A. Baldwin

No matter how vast, how total, the failure of man here on earth, the work of man will be resumed elsewhere. War leaders talk of resuming operations on this front and that, but man's front embraces the whole universe.
Henry Miller

There is much to be said for failure. It is much more interesting than success.
Max Beerbohm

Failure is a great teacher, and I think when you make mistakes and you recover from them and you treat them as valuable learning experiences, then you've got something to share.
Steve Harvey

You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.
E. O. Wilson

If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way. The moral imperative of humanism is the endeavor alone, whether successful or not, provided the effort is honorable and failure memorable.
E. O. Wilson

Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination.
Edward Abbey

You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down.
Mary Pickford

If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.
Mary Pickford



Supposing you have tried and failed again and again. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down.
Mary Pickford

I have a lack of fear, whereas in the past the fear of failure was a powerful motivator. Anyway, I have great expectations for the future, but I just don't know if I'm the monarch of all I survey.
Sylvester Stallone

Success is usually the culmination of controlling failure.
Sylvester Stallone

But while success and failure depend on conditions, the mind neither waxes nor wanes.
Bodhidharma

My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.
Jack Kerouac

A real failure does not need an excuse. It is an end in itself.
Gertrude Stein

In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in failure.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Even as far back as when I started acting at 14, I know I've never considered failure.
Jennifer Lawrence

As soon as I did my first five minutes of stand-up I knew that I would rather be a failure at comedy than a success in marketing.
Jimmy Carr

Failure has gone to his head.
Wilson Mizner

I believe in trusting men, not only once but twice - in giving a failure another chance.
James Cash Penney

You have to be able to accept failure to get better.
LeBron James

The more control you have over your life, the more responsible you feel for your own success - or failure.
Arthur C. Brooks

One of the reasons people stop learning is that they become less and less willing to risk failure.
John W. Gardner


It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.
John Steinbeck

Man's sin is in his failure to live what he is. Being the master of the earth, man forgets that he is the servant of God.
Abraham Joshua Heschel

You will be a failure, until you impress the subconscious with the conviction you are a success. This is done by making an affirmation which "clicks."
Florence Scovel Shinn

Every great work, every big accomplishment, has been brought into manifestation through holding to the vision, and often just before the big achievement, comes apparent failure and discouragement.
Florence Scovel Shinn

Achievement is not always success, while reputed failure often is. It is honest endeavor, persistent effort to do the best possible under any and all circumstances.
Orison Swett Marden

There can be no failure to a man who has not lost his courage, his character, his self respect, or his self-confidence. He is still a King.
Orison Swett Marden

Don't be afraid of missing opportunities. Behind every failure is an opportunity somebody wishes they had missed.
Lily Tomlin

War is something Arafat sends others to do for him. That is, the poor souls who believe in him. This pompous incompetent caused the failure of the Camp David negotiations, Clinton's mediation.
Oriana Fallaci

I rise today to offer a formal and heartfelt apology to all the victims of lynching in our history, and for the failure of the United States Senate to take action when action was most needed.
George Allen

It's not necessary to fear the prospect of failure but to be determined not to fail.
Jimmy Carter

Failure doesn't mean you are a failure it just means you haven't succeeded yet.
Robert H. Schuller

If there exists no possibility of failure, then victory is meaningless.
Robert H. Schuller

I think some parents now look at a youngster failing as the final thing. It's a process, and failure is part of the process. I would like it if the teacher and the parents would connect more. I think that used to be, but we're losing a little bit of that right now.
Mike Krzyzewski

In high school, in sport, I had a coach who told me I was much better than I thought I was, and would make me do more in a positive sense. He was the first person who taught me not to be afraid of failure.
Mike Krzyzewski

I've tried to handle winning well, so that maybe we'll win again, but I've also tried to handle failure well. If those serve as good examples for teachers and kids, then I hope that would be a contribution I have made to sport. Not just basketball, but to sport.
Mike Krzyzewski

A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.
B. F. Skinner

Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.
Mike Murdock

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
Truman Capote

He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.
Paul Tillich