"Success breeds success, and failure leads to a sort of fallow period"
About this Quote
Felicity Kendal captures the feedback loops that shape a life in the arts and, more broadly, any ambitious career. Momentum attracts momentum: visibility brings more offers, confidence sharpens performance, and success signals reliability to gatekeepers who are already inclined to back proven names. The result is a compounding cycle, sometimes called the Matthew effect, where each win expands the next opportunity. Anyone who has watched a colleague ride a run of good outcomes knows how quickly doors seem to open once the first latch lifts.
The second clause is just as revealing. A fallow period is an agricultural pause, when land rests to replenish nutrients. Failure often triggers a similar human season. Work slows, calls stop, and the noise drops away. To outsiders it can look like stagnation; it can feel like exile. Yet fallow is not barren. It is a time to reassess technique, reset expectations, and experiment without the pressure of immediate acclaim. In performance worlds, a quiet stretch can break typecasting, allow a turn toward training, or foster the kind of risk that reinvents a career.
Kendal speaks from a profession marked by cycles. An actor may move from a breakout sitcom to demanding stage roles, with quieter intervals that do not make headlines but deepen craft. The insight applies beyond theatre: startups, researchers, athletes, and writers all experience runs when everything aligns and pauses when it does not. The task is to manage both. Success needs grounding so it does not harden into complacency or fear of risk. Failure needs framing so it becomes restoration rather than retreat.
Read as advice, the line proposes seasonality as a realist’s posture. Cultivate momentum when it comes, because it is self-reinforcing. When it ebbs, let the soil rest, learn, and prepare. The next burst of growth often depends on how wisely the fallow was used.
The second clause is just as revealing. A fallow period is an agricultural pause, when land rests to replenish nutrients. Failure often triggers a similar human season. Work slows, calls stop, and the noise drops away. To outsiders it can look like stagnation; it can feel like exile. Yet fallow is not barren. It is a time to reassess technique, reset expectations, and experiment without the pressure of immediate acclaim. In performance worlds, a quiet stretch can break typecasting, allow a turn toward training, or foster the kind of risk that reinvents a career.
Kendal speaks from a profession marked by cycles. An actor may move from a breakout sitcom to demanding stage roles, with quieter intervals that do not make headlines but deepen craft. The insight applies beyond theatre: startups, researchers, athletes, and writers all experience runs when everything aligns and pauses when it does not. The task is to manage both. Success needs grounding so it does not harden into complacency or fear of risk. Failure needs framing so it becomes restoration rather than retreat.
Read as advice, the line proposes seasonality as a realist’s posture. Cultivate momentum when it comes, because it is self-reinforcing. When it ebbs, let the soil rest, learn, and prepare. The next burst of growth often depends on how wisely the fallow was used.
Quote Details
| Topic | Success |
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