Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Success is the proper utilization of failure.
—Unknown
Success and failure are greatly overrated. But failure gives you a whole lot more to talk about.
—Hildegard Knef (1925–2002) German Actress, Singer
Accept that all of us can be hurt, that all of us can — and surely will at times — fail. Other vulnerabilities, like being embarrassed or risking love, can be terrifying, too. I think we should follow a simple rule: if we can take the worst, take the risk.
—Joyce Brothers (1927–2013) American Psychologist, Advice Columnist
Show me someone content with mediocrity and I’ll show you someone destined for failure.
—Johnnetta B. Cole (b.1936) American Anthropologist, Educator
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
—Truman Capote (1924–84) American Novelist
They fail, and they alone, who have not striven.
—Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) American Writer, Poet, Critic, Editor
Just once it might be instructive to pretend you’re accepting an award for failure, just to see who you would thank.
—Robert Brault
Failure after long perseverance is much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be called a failure.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
When you get right down to it, one of the most important tasks of a leader is to eliminate his people’s excuse for failure.
—Robert C. Townsend (1920–98) American Businessman
Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity.
—Lou Holtz (1893–1980) American Stage Performer
Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Past failures are guideposts to success.
—Unknown
His labour is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee’s experience
Of clovers and of noon.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
If there exists no possibility of failure, then victory is meaningless.
—Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015) American Christian Televangelist, Author
If you’re doing your best, you won’t have any time to worry about failure.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (b.1940) American Self-Help Author
Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
We failed, but in the good providence of God apparent failure often proves a blessing.
—Robert E. Lee (1807–70) Confederate General during American Civil War
If you are bitten by a snake, what’s the best thing to do? Remain calm, separate the poison from the rest of your body, suck the poison out. Worst thing to do: get upset, chase and kill snake. Same when someone strikes out at you verbally. Remain calm, don’t try to strike back at the other person. Don’t let the poison spread throughout your system.
—Unknown
They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has, but I notice he usually blunders forward.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
Failure is delay, but not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead-end street.
—William Arthur Ward (1921–94) American Author
However things may seem, no evil thing is success and no good thing is failure.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
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
Do not take yourself too seriously. You have to learn not to be dismayed at making mistakes. No human being can avoid failures.
—Lawrence G. Lovasik
You’re on the road to success when you realize that failure is only a detour.
—Unknown
Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don’t win, at least you can be satisfied that you’ve tried. If you don’t accept failure as a possibility, you don’t set high goals, and you don’t branch out, you don’t try—you don’t take the risk.
—Rosalynn Carter (b.1927) American Humanitarian, First Lady
To reprove small faults with undue vehemence, is as absurd as if a man should take a great hammer to kill a fly on his friend’s forehead.
—Anonymous
I believe that none of us ever fails at anything. Every time we create something we are successful at creation. However, we do make some poor choices about what we create.
—Anonymous
We are all failures—at least, the best of us are.
—J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) Scottish Novelist, Dramatist
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