Skip to main content

Success Quote by Al Lewis

"As long as you gave it your best shot, even if in the opinion of others "you failed," you didn't fail"

About this Quote

There is a distinctly showbiz sleight-of-hand in Al Lewis's line: it takes the harshest verdict in American life - public failure - and simply refuses to grant it jurisdiction. Coming from an actor, the move makes sense. Performance is one of the few jobs where effort is invisible, outcomes are volatile, and "success" is often a referendum conducted by strangers. Lewis isn't offering a Hallmark consolation; he's redrawing the scoreboard.

The specific intent is motivational, but not the sugary kind. "As long as you gave it your best shot" sets a private standard that can't be litigated by a roomful of critics. Then he slips in the real antagonist: "in the opinion of others". Those four words expose failure as a social label, not a fact. The quote isn't denying that you can lose a role, bomb an audition, or watch a project die. It's insisting that those events aren't the final measure of you.

Subtextually, it's a defense against the corrosive economy of judgment that surrounds artists: agents, reviews, ratings, the casual cruelty of audiences. In acting, you can do good work and still be edited out, miscast, under-directed, or simply unlucky. Lewis frames "best shot" as the one piece of the process you own, an ethic of craft over applause.

Context matters: Lewis lived through eras when careers could be made or broken by gatekeepers, and later, by mass media. His line anticipates today's attention marketplace, where "failed" is a quick tag. He pushes back with a quieter, sturdier definition of winning: integrity under uncertainty.

Quote Details

TopicFailure
SourceHelp us find the source
Cite

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Lewis, Al. (2026, January 17). As long as you gave it your best shot, even if in the opinion of others "you failed," you didn't fail. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-long-as-you-gave-it-your-best-shot-even-if-in-37221/

Chicago Style
Lewis, Al. "As long as you gave it your best shot, even if in the opinion of others "you failed," you didn't fail." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-long-as-you-gave-it-your-best-shot-even-if-in-37221/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"As long as you gave it your best shot, even if in the opinion of others "you failed," you didn't fail." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/as-long-as-you-gave-it-your-best-shot-even-if-in-37221/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

More Quotes by Al Add to List
As long as you gave it your best shot you did not fail - Al Lewis
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

USA Flag

Al Lewis (April 30, 1910 - February 3, 2006) was a Actor from USA.

21 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Playwright
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Playwright
Richard Brinsley Sheridan