The 12 best quotes about failure
Photo by Steve Gurvetson
I've been thinking about failure quite a lot recently. And not just my own, I might add.
It's fascinating how attitudes to this potentially harrowing experience can differ from person to person. Some use fear of failure to drive themselves on while others block it out, liberated by their ruthless ability to charge forward from one uninhibited moment to the next in pursuit of success. You'll be hearing examples of both in the next Ideastap podcast, which I and the team having been working on for the past month or two.
Choosing my biggest failure was a really difficult exercise. Not because there are so many; for me, there are no real rock-bottom stories or gasp-inducing anecdotes to share. It's more an ongoing, overarching sense that I haven't quite cracked life yet. Being present, at peace with myself, not sweating the small stuff, taking more risks… that sort of thing.
Sure, I've tasted my fair share of rejection – by institutions, employers … girls. Then there was the time I was given a 'C' in AS level history, accompanied by a particularly cutting examiner's report, convinced beforehand that my efforts would almost certainly be rewarded with an 'A'. Sounds trivial but the experience made me question my ability to think critically and write at a time when my studies meant everything to me and I, like many other teens, was desperate to discover what I was good at. But after a period of mourning – for the hotshot I thought I was – I simply accepted the feedback and vowed to be better. The following year I collected that 'A'.
I think that's the key – learning what not to do. There are no shortage of blustery blog pieces out there from entrepreneurs about the importance of trying new things, failing big, dusting yourself off and then going again. But there is no formula as such. All any of us can do is be bold without being stupid. In other words, committing to a life of conscious acceptance of new challenges. And a willingness to feel vulnerable.
In society we love to fetishise talent, giving awards for excellence and worshipping the best for their possession of something rare, divine and wholly natural. The reality is that the Federers, Picassos, Princes, Streeps and Messis of this world each had to graft and raise their bar time and again before they were acknowledged as greats. It may have taken more or less than the famous 10,000 hours mooted in Gladwell's Outliers, genes may indeed have been the decisive factor, but one thing is certain: the more you practice, the better your chances are of being good at something. At that's what each failure is essentially – practice.
Sir James Dyson didn't become the vacuum king overnight. He screwed up. Over and over again – 5,126 prototypes over 15 years to be precise – before hitting upon a winning formula. Then there's Victoria Beckham, so often the subject of ridicule as the pouting pop star more famous for being a WAG than a talent. Her response? She simply rolled her sleeves up, pursued a passion and transformed herself into an internationally respected fashion designer. That takes a hell of a lot more than talent.
So what are you scared of? Time for an attitude readjustment in society, and that extends all the way from the classroom to the boardroom. I like the idea of a Museum of Epic Failure or an Institute of Brilliant Failures. How about each company publishing an annual failure report? In the meantime, we have the wise words of many inspiring and successful individuals to guide us. Here are my top 12 quotes about failure – some are pithy and poignant observations, others are stories to which we can all relate.
1. “To be an artist is to fail, as no other dare fail. Try again, fail again, fail better…” – Samuel Beckett
4. “It doesn’t matter how far you might rise — at some point, you are bound to stumble. Because if you’re constantly doing what we do — raising the bar — if you’re constantly pushing yourself higher, higher, the law of averages predicts that you will, at some point, fall. And when you do, I want you to know this … remember this: There is no such thing as failure — failure is just life trying to move us in another direction." – Oprah Winfrey at Harvard Commencement in 2013 (photo by Alan Light)
7. "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." – Johnny Cash (photo by stealingsand)
8. “We should not look down on work nor look down on [our early works] as failures. To fail is to give up. But you are in the midst of a moving process. Nothing fails then. All goes on. Work is done. If good, you learn from it. If bad, you learn even more. Work done and behind you is a lesson to be studied. There is no failure unless one stops. Not to work is to cease, tighten up, become nervous and therefore destructive of the creative process.” – Ray Bradbury (photo by Alan Light)
11. "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." Henry Ford
2. “His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery." – James Joyce in Ulysses
3. "I've not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." – Thomas Edison
5. “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously
that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”
– JK Rowling at Harvard Commencement in 2008 (photo by Daniel Ogren)
6. “Failure. It's such an ugly word, isn't it? It reeks of cancer, of loss: the sense that what once went wrong cannot be set right, that the world has come to an end, that failures are failures forever – that it's not just the project that failed, but you. Successful people, we imagine, are somehow blessed with more optimism, bigger brains and higher ideals than the rest of us. But it's not true. Successful people – creative people – fail every day, just like everybody else. Except they don't view failure as a verdict. They view it as an opportunity. Indeed, it's failure that paves the way for creativity." – novelist Jennifer Egan (photo by David Shankbone)
9. "You don't learn to walk by following rules, you learn by doing and by falling over."
– Sir Richard Branson
10. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time.
12. “I think it's essential to fuck up. I think of failure as latent success. Any experience in life is neutral. You can tint it as a piece of learning or you tint it as a piece of misinformation. I thank God for the two years I spent in New Zealand working on The Hobbit, scouting, designing, breaking bread with the geniuses at WETA, having afternoons of elucidating stories with Peter [Jackson], Phillipa [Boyens] and Fran [Walsh]. I cannot measure it only by: 'Did I direct the movie or did I not direct the movie?' I grew up as a filmmaker. Now, is it a heartache? Oh yeah. It's huge. It's painful. But you learn from it. If all you think about is success rather than fulfillment, that's a dangerous coin you're dealing with. That kind of success has a horrible exchange rate of currency. Horrible. It's never going to be enough to pay the debts you have in your soul as an artist.” – Guillermo del Toro (photo by Gage Skidmore)
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