Quotes about Failure

Success is failure turned inside out - the silver tint of the clouds of doubt.

I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.

Whether success or failure: the truth of a life really has little to do with its quality. The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.

The common view of confidence is that it dervives from knowing that you will not fail. But confidence stems from not caring whether you succeed or fail.

Tree sitting is a last resort. When you see someone sitting in a tree  trying to protect it, you know that every level of our society has  failed.

Gardening is its own infuriating design challenge. You fret and you rethink and you second-guess yourself constantly, and then for one delirious, thrilling moment something blooms and you feel utterly triumphant. And then it dies and you are back where you started. You feel like a failure, outwitted by nature. And by rain, or the lack of it. And by that ultimate conspiracy, weeds — endless, unconquerable weeds — like an army in perpetual attack mode. What once seemed a heavenly pursuit now seems beyond hopeless, and therein lies its magic: gardening is the most comprehensively satisfying of design challenges, because when it works you feel like God.

And when it doesn't work, you want to dig a hole in the garden and bury your head in it.

Abstinence is a path of choosing between profound suffering or abject failure.  Moderation is a more humane choice.

Abstinence is a perpetual cycly of holiness, misery and corruption.  Balance brings more fulfillment and less suffering.

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.

America is the most grandiose experiment the world has seen, but, I am afraid, it is not going to be a success

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

Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly

Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes, when you fall, you fly

Whenever God looks devilish, I see the philosopher fail.

Never hesitate to admit failure.  Make no attempt to hide failure under deceptive smiles and beaming optimism

The failure of the past philosophers is largely the failure to see the self-evident.

Learn to fail with pride — and do so fast and cleanly. Maximise trial and error — by mastering the error part.

Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success.

There really is no such thing as failure.  There is only the rearrangement of plans and surrender of ego.

I am an example of someone who succeeded by failing the whole way.

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

"You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down."

"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."

"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."

i'm a fallen angel;
destined to fly. broken and crazy...
but too strong to cry

"Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses"

Don't be afraid to fail.  Be afraid not to try.

To me, I just view everything as an experience. We label it "failure" or "success," when in fact it's just an experience. And we can learn from every experience—good, bad, or indifferent.

Quitting or giving up on something near to your heart is the only failure you can really have in life.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt - marvellous error! -
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart
I said: Along which secret aqueduct
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt - marvellous error! -
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt - marvellous error! -
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt,
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt - marvellous error! -
That it was God I had
here inside my heart.

LET me not pray to be sheltered from dangers
but to be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain
 but for the heart to conquer it.

Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield
but to my own strength.

Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved
but hope for the patience to win my freedom.

Grant me that I may not be a coward,
feeling your mercy in my success alone;
but let me find
the grasp of your hand in my failure.