"Focus on remedies, not faults"
About this Quote
"Focus on remedies, not faults" reads like a locker-room bromide until you remember who’s saying it: Jack Nicklaus, the golfer who made a career out of winning not by being flashy, but by being relentlessly correct. The line’s intent is brutally practical. It’s not urging you to ignore mistakes; it’s insisting you stop worshipping them. In sports, fault-finding can masquerade as seriousness: you replay the bad swing, the blown putt, the mental lapse, and call it accountability. Nicklaus is calling that bluff. Diagnosis matters, but obsession is procrastination dressed up as rigor.
The subtext is about agency. Faults point backward, toward blame, ego, and the comfort of a narrative where the problem is already understood. Remedies point forward, toward decisions you can make under pressure. That shift is the difference between a competitor who spirals and one who adjusts. It also hints at Nicklaus’s famed course management: you don’t litigate the shot you should’ve taken; you choose the highest-percentage shot you can take next.
Contextually, the quote sits inside a particular mid-century athletic ethos: discipline over drama, process over confession. That’s why it lands beyond golf. In workplaces and politics, “faults” become a social currency - who’s responsible, who’s embarrassed, who’s to be dunked on. “Remedies” is an unfashionable word because it implies boring follow-through. Nicklaus makes boredom sound like a superpower: the calm ability to move from critique to correction before the moment closes.
The subtext is about agency. Faults point backward, toward blame, ego, and the comfort of a narrative where the problem is already understood. Remedies point forward, toward decisions you can make under pressure. That shift is the difference between a competitor who spirals and one who adjusts. It also hints at Nicklaus’s famed course management: you don’t litigate the shot you should’ve taken; you choose the highest-percentage shot you can take next.
Contextually, the quote sits inside a particular mid-century athletic ethos: discipline over drama, process over confession. That’s why it lands beyond golf. In workplaces and politics, “faults” become a social currency - who’s responsible, who’s embarrassed, who’s to be dunked on. “Remedies” is an unfashionable word because it implies boring follow-through. Nicklaus makes boredom sound like a superpower: the calm ability to move from critique to correction before the moment closes.
Quote Details
| Topic | Learning from Mistakes |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Nicklaus, Jack. (2026, January 15). Focus on remedies, not faults. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/focus-on-remedies-not-faults-54276/
Chicago Style
Nicklaus, Jack. "Focus on remedies, not faults." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/focus-on-remedies-not-faults-54276/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Focus on remedies, not faults." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/focus-on-remedies-not-faults-54276/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
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