Success and failure are closely linked — so closely, in fact, that some of the greatest people in their fields say they owe all their successes to the failures they’ve experienced. If you’re worried about failing in life and education, these 30 failure quotes should help keep you on the right path. Let’s get started!
Michael Jordan: “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
Abraham Lincoln: “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.”
Bill Gates: “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.”
Steve Jobs: “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.”
Thomas Edison: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
John Burroughs: “A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.”
John Wooden: “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall.”
Rudyard Kipling: “We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.”
Zig Ziglar: “If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.”
Napoleon Hill: “Before success comes in any man’s life, he’s sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps, some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and the most logical thing to do is to quit. That’s exactly what the majority of men do.”
E.O. Wilson: “You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably. Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.”
Zig Ziglar: “Remember that failure is an event, not a person.”
Ernest Hemingway: “A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.”
B.F. Skinner: “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.”
Coco Chanel: “Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.”
Ken Robinson: “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”
Richard Yates: “If you don’t try at anything, you can’t fail… it takes back bone to lead the life you want.”
Denis Waitley: “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”
Thomas Edison: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
J.M. Barrie: “We are all failures – at least the best of us are.”
Robert T. Kiyosaki: “Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.”
Johnny Cash: “You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.”
J.K. Rowling: “Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success. I’ve met people who don’t want to try for fear of failing.”
Chris Hardwick: “No human ever became interesting by not failing. The more you fail and recover and improve, the better you are as a person. Ever meet someone who’s always had everything work out for them with zero struggle? They usually have the depth of a puddle. Or they don’t exist.”
Bill Cosby: “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.”
Theodore Roosevelt: “It’s not the critic who counts. It’s not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled. Credit belongs to the man who really was in the arena, his face marred by dust, sweat, and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs to come short and short again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. It is the man who actually strives to do the deeds, who knows the great enthusiasm and knows the great devotion, who spends himself on a worthy cause, who at best, knows in the end the triumph of great achievement. And, who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and cruel souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Barry Eisler: “If you focus on the risks, they’ll multiply in your mind and eventually paralyze you. You want to focus on the task, instead, on doing what needs to be done.”
James Cameron: “If you set your goals ridiculously high and its a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.”
Joe Frazier: “You can map out a fight plan or a life plan, but when the action starts, it may not go the way you planned, and you’re down to your reflexes – that means your [preparation:]. That’s where your roadwork shows. If you cheated on that in the dark of the morning, well, you’re going to get found out now, under the bright lights.”
In Summary
We hope you’ve enjoyed these 30 failure quotes on life and education. If there are any that you would like to add to the list, please do so in the comments section, and good luck as you work through the rest of the summer and start that next semester!
Aric Mitchell's work appears regularly here at 4tests.com and across the web for sites, such as The Inquisitr and Life'd. A former high school teacher, his passion for education has only intensified since leaving the classroom. At 4tests, he hopes to continue passing along words of encouragement and study tips to ensure you leave school ready to face an ever-changing world.
Success and failure are closely linked — so closely, in fact, that some of the greatest people in their fields say they owe all their successes to the failures they’ve experienced. If you’re worried about failing in life and education, these 30 failure quotes should help keep you on the right path. Let’s get started!
