quotations about failure
The only failure a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.
GEORGE ELIOT
Felix Holt
You never know what you can accomplish until you try. The problem is--what people don’t talk about is--a fair number of times, you fail. You try to climb K2, and you die. But there is a great deal to be gained by trying something that you’re horribly afraid of--because even if you fail, you’ve learned something. You learn that you don’t want to fail again!
WILLIAM SHATNER
interview, Smithsonian, Aug. 14, 2012
Failing tastes of bile and dog vomit. Shame on any man who gets used to that taste.
DAN SIMMONS
Olympos
I have a congenital aversion to failure.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
letter to George E. Pickett, Feb. 22, 1841
There is a chill air surrounding those who are down in the world, and people are glad to get away from them, as from a cold room.
GEORGE ELIOT
The Mill on the Floss
You can't let your failures define you -- you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time.
BARACK OBAMA
National Address to America's Schoolchildren, Sep. 8, 2009
I've formulated a theory: You have to continuously fail. You fail at something, then you get over it, then you fail some more. And after you fail, there's always something new there. And that something new can be really interesting.
WILLIAM SHATNER
Esquire Magazine, May 2012