Failure Quotes

"It has always felt like a failure that Bjorn and I couldn't keep our family together. You never get it back, but to this day I don't regret splitting up. The reason behind our separation is one of those things I definitely don't want to go into!"

Agnetha Faltskog, Musician

"I think I've failed every test I've ever taken. If there was a failure I would have been it"

Lisa Marie Presley, Musician

"The man who has done his level best... is a success, even though the world may write him down a failure"

B. C. Forbes, Journalist

"People in their handlings of affairs often fail when they are about to succeed. If one remains as careful at the end as he was at the beginning, there will be no failure"

Lao Tzu, Author

"The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil"

H. L. Mencken, Writer

"Optimism is a kind of heart stimulant - the digitalis of failure"

Elbert Hubbard, Writer

"There is no failure except in no longer trying"

Elbert Hubbard, Writer

"A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success"

Elbert Hubbard, Writer

"My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure"

Abraham Lincoln, President

"Destiny: A tyrant's authority for crime and a fool's excuse for failure"

Ambrose Bierce, Journalist

"A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms agains himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it"

Ambrose Bierce, Journalist

"Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure"

Benjamin Disraeli, Statesman

"The illegal wildlife trade is a symptom of a larger problem. It is a symptom of our society's unsustainable consumption patterns and our failure to live in harmony with the natural world"

Peter Knights, Activist

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery"

Winston Churchill, Statesman

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody"

Bill Cosby, Comedian

"A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying"

B. F. Skinner, Psychologist

"Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure"

Confucius, Philosopher

"It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure"

Bill Gates, Businessman

"Ideology, politics and journalism, which luxuriate in failure, are impotent in the face of hope and joy"

P. J. O'Rourke, Journalist

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

Samuel Smiles, Author

"It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done"

Samuel Smiles, Author

"Sometimes failure isn't an opportunity in disguise, it's just you"

Doug Coupland, Author

"Failure is authentic, and because it's authentic, it's real and genuine, and because of that, it's a pure state of being"

Doug Coupland, Author

"Big companies are like marching bands. Even if half the band is playing random notes, it still sounds kind of like music. The concealment of failure is built into them"

Doug Coupland, Author

"If a building looks better under construction than it does when finished, then it's a failure"

Doug Coupland, Author

"For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour"

Mary Kay Ash, Businesswoman

"Sound character provides the power with which a person may ride the emergencies of life instead of being overwhelmed by them. Failure is... the highway to success"

Og Mandino, Author

"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough"

Og Mandino, Author

"However things may seem, no evil thing is success and no good thing is failure"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poet

"A real failure does not need an excuse. It is an end in itself"

Gertrude Stein, Author

"There is no loneliness greater than the loneliness of a failure. The failure is a stranger in his own house"

Eric Hoffer, Writer

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important"

Steve Jobs, Businessman

"If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure"

Dan Quayle, Vice President

"Learn to love failure"

Jordan Belfort, Author

"I want you to back yourself into a corner. Give yourself no choice but to succeed. Let the consequences of failure become so dire and so unthinkable that you'll have no choice but to do whatever it takes to succeed"

Jordan Belfort, Author

"I have always been pushed by the negative. The apparent failure of a play sends me back to my typewriter that very night, before the reviews are out. I am more compelled to get back to work than if I had a success"

Tennessee Williams, Dramatist

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

Laurence J. Peter, Writer

"Achievement is not always success, while reputed failure often is. It is honest endeavor, persistent effort to do the best possible under any and all circumstances"

Orison Swett Marden, Writer

"There can be no failure to a man who has not lost his courage, his character, his self respect, or his self-confidence. He is still a King"

Orison Swett Marden, Writer

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently"

Henry Ford, Businessman

Page 2 of 13