Motivational Quotes

Failure

I am often confronted by the necessity of standing by one of my empirical selves and relinquishing the rest. Not that I would not. If I could, be... a great athlete and make a million a year, be a wit, a born -- vivant and a lady killer,as well as a philosopher, a philanthropist ... and saint. But the thing is simply impossible. The millionaire's work would run counter to the saint s; the bon-vivant and the philanthropist would trip each other up; the philosopher and the lady killer could not well keep house in the same tenement of clay. Such different characters may conceivably, at the outset of life. Be alike possible for a man. But to make any one of them actual,the rest must more of less be suppressed. So the seeker of his truest, strongest, deepest self must review the list carefully and pick out on which to stake his salvation. All other selves thereupon become unreal, but the fortunes of this self are real. Its failure are real failures, its triumphs real triumphs carrying shame and gladness with them.

- James, William

Best Quotes about Failure

Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.

Ruth, Babe

It takes a lot more energy to fail than to succeed, since it takes a lot of concentrated energy to hold on to beliefs that don't work.

Gillies, Jerry

Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle and a victory.

I wasn't afraid to fail. Something good always comes out of failure.

Baxter, Anne

You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.

Cole, Edwin Louis

You can give in to the failure messages and be a bitter deadbeat of excuses. Or you can choose to be happy and positive and excited about life.

Williams, A.L.

I have not failed. I've just found 10, 000 ways that won't work.

Edison, Thomas A.

Defeat should never be a source of discouragement, but rather a fresh stimulus.

South, Bishop Robert

Silicon Valley is a graveyard. Failure is Silicon Valley's greatest strength.

10.

It's best to have failure happen early in life. It wakes up the Phoenix bird in you so you rise from the ashes.

Baxter, Anne

11.

You win only if you aren't afraid to lose.

Aoki, Rocky

12.

You can always tell who the pioneers are because they have arrows in their back and are lying face down in the dirt.

13.

Men are born to succeed, not to fail.

Thoreau, Henry David

14.

A hard fall means a high bounce... if you're made of the right material.

15.

The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure.

Proverb, Chinese

16.

If we don't see a failure as a challenge to modify our approach, but rather as a problem with ourselves, as a personality defect, we will immediately feel overwhelmed.

Robbins, Anthony

17.

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.

Clemenceau, Georges

18.

We learn from failure much more than from success; we often discover what we will do by finding our what we will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.

Smiles, Samuel

19.

Why is it so painful to watch a person sink? Because there is something unnatural in it, for nature demands personal progress, evolution, and every backward step means wasted energy.

Strindberg, J. August

20.

Failure is the tuition you pay for success.

Brunell, Walter

21.

Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.

Carl Jung

22.

Sometimes the best gain is to lose.

Herbert, George

23.

Accept failure as a normal part of living. View it as part of the process of exploring your world; make a note of its lessons and move on.

Hobson, Tom

24.

We fail far more often by timidity than by over-daring.

Grayson, David

25.

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

Wooden, John

26.

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

J.K. Rowling

27.

The world is divided into two categories: failures and unknowns.

Picabia, Francis

28.

Failure is good. It's fertilizer. Everything I've learned about coaching, I've learned from making mistakes.

Pitino, Rick

29.

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

Beerbohm, Sir Max

30.

Even a tombstone says good things about a fellow who's down.

31.

Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.

Sivananda, Sri Swami

32.

Losing is a part of winning.

Munro, Dick

33.

There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self.

James, William

34.

Many men fail because they quit too soon. They lose faith when the signs are against them. They do not have the courage to hold on, to keep fighting in spite of that which seems insurmountable. If more of us would strike out and attempt the impossible, we very soon would find the truth of that old saying that nothing is impossible... abolish fear and you can accomplish anything you wish.

Welch, Dr. C. E.

35.

When you stand at the edge of the cliff, jump to fly, not to fall.

36.

Men do not fail; they give up trying.

Root, Elihu

37.

Failure is in a sense the highway to success, as each discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true.

Keats, John

38.

I am not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed; and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying.

Hopkins, Tom

39.

Our business in this world is not to succeed, but to continue to fail, in good spirits.

Stevenson, Robert Louis

40.

What is defeat? Nothing but education. Nothing but the first step to something better.

Phillips, Wendell

41.

Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it.

J.K. Rowling

42.

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

Hill, Napoleon

43.

From time to time, life as a leader can look hopeless. To help you, consider a man who lived through this: Failed in business at age 31. Defeated for the legislature at 32. Again failed in business at 34. Sweetheart died at 35. Had a nervous breakdown at 36. Defeated in election at 38. Defeated for Congress at 43. Defeated for Congress at 46. Defeated for Congress at 48. Defeated for Senate at 55. Defeated for Vice President at 56. Defeated for Senate at 58. Elected President at age 60. This man was Abraham Lincoln.

44.

A failure will not appear until a unit has passed final inspection.

Bloch, Arthur

45.

No man is ever whipped until he quits in his own mind.

Hill, Napoleon

46.

We must expect to fail... but fail in a learning posture, determined no to repeat the mistakes, and to maximize the benefits from what is learned in the process.

Engstrom, Ted W.

47.

The man who fails because he aims astray or because he does not aim at all is to be found everywhere.

Swinnerton, Frank

48.

I have always felt that although someone may defeat me, and I strike out in a ball game, the pitcher on the particular day was the best player. But I know when I see him again, I'm going to be ready for his curve ball. Failure is a part of success. There is no such thing as a bed of roses all your life. But failure will never stand in the way of success if you learn from it.

Aaron, Hank

49.

Your failures won't hurt you until you start blaming them on others.

50.

You must think of failure and defeat as the springboards to new achievements or to the next level of accomplishment.

Brown, Les