Failure is a universal experience, often seen as a deterrent, yet it's a crucial stepping stone to success. This article delves into a diverse array of quotes on failure, spanning various facets and emotions associated with it. By exploring wisdom from notable figures and timeless insights, we aim to inspire, motivate, and offer new perspectives on the meaning and impact of failure. From embracing failure as a learning tool to using it as motivation for change, these quotes underscore the importance of resilience and perseverance. Whether you’re seeking solace, encouragement, or a fresh outlook, the following collection provides thoughtful reflections to uplift and guide you through the inevitable setbacks that life presents.
Quotes on Embracing Failure
"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor." – Truman Capote
"Failure is another steppingstone to greatness." – Oprah Winfrey
"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." – Nelson Mandela
"Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out." – Benjamin Franklin
"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Success is not built on success. It's built on failure. It's built on frustration. Sometimes it's built on catastrophe." – Sumner Redstone
"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." – Albert Einstein
"Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat." – Denis Waitley
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." – Winston Churchill
"It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure." – Bill Gates
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." – Robert F. Kennedy
"Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement." – C.S. Lewis
Quotes on Learning from Failure
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." – Thomas Edison
"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." – John Powell
"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit." – Napoleon Hill
"It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure." – Bill Gates
"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying." – Michael Jordan
"You always pass failure on your way to success." – Mickey Rooney
"If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative." – Woody Allen
"I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." – Michael Jordan
"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." – Henry Ford
"What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?" – John Green
"Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be." – John Wooden
"There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period." – Brené Brown
Quotes on Overcoming Failure
"The only real failure in life is not trying." – George Bernard Shaw
"The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same." – Colin R. Davis
"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." – Michael Jordan
"Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable." – Coco Chanel
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." – Henry Ford
"The phoenix must burn to emerge." – Janet Fitch
"What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?" – John Green
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." – Confucius
"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
"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying." – Michael Jordan
"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely." – Henry Ford
"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." – Johnny Cash
Quotes on Failure and Resilience
"Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." – Nelson Mandela
"It's not how far you fall, but how high you bounce that counts." – Zig Ziglar
"Success is not the absence of failure; it's the persistence through failure." – Aisha Tyler
"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough." – Og Mandino
"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it." – Margaret Thatcher
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." – Theodore Roosevelt
"Successful people don't fear failure but understand that it's necessary to learn and grow from." – Robert Kiyosaki
"We are all failures – at least the best of us are." – J.M. Barrie
"The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure." – John C. Maxwell
"Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night." – Zig Ziglar
"You just can’t beat the person who never gives up." – Babe Ruth
"If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original." – Ken Robinson
Quotes on Failures in Growth
"The secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight times." – Paulo Coelho
"Without failure there is no achievement." – John C. Maxwell
"Mistakes are the portals of discovery." – James Joyce
"Growth is not everything, but everything is nothing without growth." – Pearl Zhu
"A fail might be a detour in the right direction." – Unknown
"The mistakes we regrettably make along the way are no worse than the chances we instinctively take." – James Emlund
"Failure is the foundation of success, and the means by which it is achieved." – Laotzu
"We learn from failure, not from success!" – Bram Stoker
"The things we get wrong often lead us in other better directions." – Unknown
"Failure is natural in the growth process; you become more from trying." – Unknown
"You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself." – Sam Levenson
"Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going." – Sam Levenson
Quotes on Failure and Success
"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." – Winston Churchill
"I failed my way to success." – Thomas Edison
"Every failure is a step to success." – William Whewell
"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying." – Michael Jordan
"Failure is success if we learn from it." – Malcolm Forbes
"Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure." – Napoleon Hill
"Success is not built on success, it’s built on failure." – Sumner Redstone
"If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again." – W.E. Hickson
"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary." – Vince Lombardi
"I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate." – George Burns
"Failure is just a resting place. It is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently." – Henry Ford
"I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." – Michael Jordan
Quotes on Acceptance of Failure
"Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself." – Charlie Chaplin
"The only real failure in life is the failure to try." – Unknown
"We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained." – Marie Curie
"When you take risks, you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important." – Ellen DeGeneres
"If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost." – Zig Ziglar
"Failure is good. It’s fertilizer. Everything I’ve learned about coaching, I’ve learned from making mistakes." – Rick Pitino
"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." – John Powell
"Failure doesn't mean you are a failure it just means you haven't succeeded yet." – Robert H. Schuller
"Accepting failure is one part, but moving on from it is another level." – Unknown
"To err is human, but to fail forward is divine." – Unknown
"Embrace failure. Missteps and roadblocks are inevitable, but they’re ultimately opportunities to learn, pivot, and go after your goals with new perspective." – Jenny Blake
"Not all risks are worth taking, but some failures are necessary for growth." – Unknown
Quotes on Innovation through Failure
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." – Henry Ford
"There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period." – Brené Brown
"If you are afraid of failure you don’t deserve to be successful!" – Charles Barkley
"Failure is just a resting place. It is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently." – Henry Ford
"Every failure is a step to success." – William Whewell
"An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail." – Ed Catmull
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." – Samuel Beckett
"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
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." – Henry Ford
"If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative." – Woody Allen
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." – Henry Ford
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." – Colin Powell
Quotes on Personal Growth and Failure
"He who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great." – Herman Melville
"You can’t have any successes unless you can accept failure." – George Cukor
"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one." – Elbert Hubbard
"Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result." – Oscar Wilde
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." – Robert F. Kennedy
"Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." – Thomas Edison
"Failure is just the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." – Henry Ford
"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit." – Napoleon Hill
"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure." – Bill Cosby
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." – Albert Einstein
"We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success." – Samuel Smiles
"Failure is the tuition you pay for success." – Walter Brunell
Quotes on Finding Strength in Failure
"The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it." – Molière
"Failure is a prerequisite for great success. If you want to succeed faster, double your rate of failure." – Brian Tracy
"To conquer frustration, one must remain intensely focused on the outcome, not the obstacles." – T.F. Hodge
"The way to succeed is to double your failure rate." – Thomas J. Watson
"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." – Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life." – Paulo Coelho
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." – Confucius
"It always seems impossible until it’s done." – Nelson Mandela
"Perseverance is not a long race. It is many short races one after another." – Walter Elliot
"The quickest way to acquire self-confidence is to do exactly what you are afraid to do." – Unknown
"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." – Henry Ford
"The strongest people aren’t always the people who win, but the people who don’t give up when they lose." – Unknown
Final words
Failure is an intrinsic part of life and growth, a critical component of success that must be navigated to foster resilience and innovation. Throughout this exploration of quotes on failure, eminent figures remind us that failure is not a definitive end but a necessary journey toward achievement and self-discovery. This collection offers a powerful testament to the enduring human spirit and its capacity to overcome adversity. By reframing failure as an opportunity for learning and advancement, we can unlock potential within ourselves and in our endeavors. These insights empower us to embrace failure positively, transforming obstacles into profound stepping stones on the path to personal and professional fulfillment. The rich tapestry of thoughts and perspectives presented here serves to inspire and reassure that failure is less a reflection of weakness, and more a conduit to eventual triumph. By welcoming failure with open arms and extracting meaningful lessons, we cultivate the strength to persevere and reach heights once thought unattainable, reaffirming that every setback can lead to a soaring comeback.
