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Success and failure

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“In any case the road to success is pictured as one beset with perils but which, it would seem, an individual with the proper qualities can overcome to attain the goal. The reward is seen in the distance; the way is lonely. Further on it is a route for wolves; one can succeed only at the cost of the failure of others.”
Che Guevara (1928–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are always obstacles and competitors. There is never an open road, except the wide road that leads to failure. Every great success has always been achieved by fight. Every winner has scars. The men who succeed are the efficient few. They are the few who have the ambition and will power to develop themselves.”
Herbert N. Casson (1869–1951) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Herbert N. Casson in: National Printer Journalist Vol 51 (1933), Nr. 7-12. p. 28; Cited in Arthur Tremain (1951) Successful Retailing: A Handbook for Store Owners and Managers p. xi
“Failure is not inevitable and success is not guaranteed. But if we don't try, we certainly will not succeed.”
Larry O. Spencer (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm a very driven personality, there's no doubt about that. For success in bringing about this kind of change, you have to be pretty ruthlessly focused. I deal with intense stuff at Telkom and it's an enormous challenge and there's pain and pleasure. It's very exciting, but what if you fail? You can't fail.”
Miriam Altman first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In an interview with ITWeb's Brainstorm magazine on her approach to challenges at Telkom. 2016
“Optimism, it is said, is predictive of success. ...It can also be predictive of failure. Optimistic people... take more risks as they are overconfident of the about the odds; those who win show up among the rich and famous, others fail and disappear from the analysis.”
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I failed early and I failed often. This is one of the secrets of success, Failure is the best mentor, because humans tend to move on if they do not fail, as if there is nothing more to explore.”
Aisha Bowe (born 1986) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't be afraid to fail. Failure is just another stepping stone to success.”
Philip Emeagwali (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Winners? I'm around a lot of winners and winners never quit. And I think that's the kind of the personality that I have. And I think some people are so afraid of failure that they don't try things. That's the worst mistake you can make. It's o.k. to fail. You just have to get up, dust yourself off and try again. You keep trying until you have success.”
Cynthia Bailey (born 1968) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So long as you refuse to ever acknowledge failure, success becomes eternal, a downward curve, always approaching failure, but never quite reaching it.”
John Hodgman (born 1971) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: September 11, 2007
“In the British public service nothing succeeds like failure: indeed, failure is success, if looked on in the right way, namely as something requiring yet further intervention in people's lives to amend.”
Anthony Daniels (psychiatrist) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Every failure is a step to success. Every detection of what is false directs us towards what is true: every trial exhausts some tempting form of error. Not only so; but scarcely any attempt is entirely a failure; scarcely any theory, the result of steady thought, is altogether false; no tempting form of Error is without some latent charm derived from Truth.”
William Whewell (1794–1866) first seen 1852 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy in England, Lecture 7. (1852)
“If along the path of truth, success (which was often near-failure unnoticed) is subjected to the same scrutiny and desire for improvement as failure, we may find ourselves in closer proximity to trees.”
Hans Reichenbach (1891–1953) said by 1953 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The acceptance of ambiguity implies more than the commonplace understanding that some good things and some bad things happen to us. It means that we know that good and evil are inextricably intermixed in human affairs; that they contain, and sometimes embrace, their opposites; that success may involve failure of a different kind, and failure may be a kind of triumph.”
Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The secret to so much success in life is to be okay with failure and have a good, healthy, positive relationship with failure.”
Emily Calandrelli (born 1987) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Space.com; August 4, 2024
“Even the slightest failure was an indignity to Olaf; but to Hans failure had no more moral significance than success.”
Phyllis Bottome (1882–1963) said by 1963 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm”
Winston Churchill (misattributed) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attribution debunked in Langworth's Churchill by Himself. The earliest close match located by the Quote Investigator is from the 1953 book How to Say a Few Words by David Guy Powers.
“Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”
Mrs Patrick Campbell (disputed) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Real success is about helping other people succeed. To be well educated in a society of increasing illiteracy is not real success; neither is to be well fed and healthy while millions die of malnutrition.”
Nigel Cumberland (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It looks like our children know only one thing – gamble and you will succeed. How I wish gambling were taxed double, triple, five times, ten times – because that is not the way of winning. That is not the way of success. Success is sweat, it is work, it is skills, it is reward.”
Anthony Muheria (born 1963) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In Kenya, evil is celebrated and good condemned. May Lent help us to heal" (6 March 2019) Fides News Agency
“There is a major disaster when a person allows some success to become a stopping place rather than a way station on to a larger goal. It often happens that an early success is a greater moral hazard than an early failure.”
Halford E. Luccock (1885–1960) said by 1960 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Lifetime Speaker's Encyclopedia (1962) by Jacob Morton Braude
“Success was misunderstood as essential to progress. Really success was worse than failure.”
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You learn more from fucking up than you do from success, unfortunately. And failure, if you don't let it defeat you, is what fuels your future success.”
Chris Rock (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Success is somebody else's failure. Success is the American Dream we can keep dreaming because most people in most places, including thirty million of ourselves, live wide awake in the terrible reality of poverty.”
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Perhaps the most difficult ethical problem of the scientific community arises not so much from conflict with other subcultures as from its own success. Nothing fails like success because we don't learn from it. We learn only from failure.”
Kenneth Boulding (1910–1993) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kenneth Boulding (1971) "The diminishing returns of science" in: New Scientist. (March 25, 1971) Vol. 49, nr. 744. p. 682
“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”
Jackie Appiah (born 1983) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So while in men’s magazines success is a power tool to get sex and love, and therefore the look of success is crucial, in women’s magazines love and sex are power tools to get success—and therefore both the look of love and the sexual tease/promise are crucial.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In India, we have a concept of caste. It has a concept of escape velocity. If one belongs to a backward caste and wants to attain success then one needs an escape velocity to attain that success. Dalits in this country need the escape velocity of Jupiter to attain success.”
Rahul Gandhi (born 1970) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 2013. Quoted in Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera NDTV, NDTV
“The success of sainthood is the success attained by struggle and suffering and achieved by faith; a success of honor, of clean hands and pure heart, of service to man and glory to God.”
William Croswell Doane (1832–1913) first seen 1895 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 109.
“Try not to measure your success by the success of others. Success should be defined by one person...Yourself.”
Lupe Fiasco (born 1982) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I will be what I want. But I will have to want what I'll be. Success is in having success, not conditions for success.”
Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) said by 1935 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't have a problem with someone using their talents to become successful, I just don't think the highest calling is success. Things like freedom and the expansion of knowledge are beyond success, beyond the personal. Personal success is not wrong, but it is limited in importance, and once you have enough of it it is a shame to keep striving for that, instead of for truth, beauty, or justice.”
Richard Stallman (born 1953) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Free Software as a Social Movement" on Znet (December 18, 2005)
“I am saddened, not by Microsoft's success — I have no problem with their success. They've earned their success, for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third-rate products.”
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Triumph of the Nerds (1996)
“Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.”
Joyce Brothers (1927–2013) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in The Pocket Philosopher/ Psychologist (2004) by Mark J. Merten, p. 87
“It is my view and hope that Israel will have our continued support. I wish it every success. Of course, what Israel regards as success is up to it to decide. But for friends like me, "success" means a secure Israel at peace with neighbors who recognize and respect its existence. Even so, we should maintain our special relationship and help Israel keep its qualitative military edge.”
Merrill McPeak (born 1936) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The battle of the sexes is no myth. Success at sexual reproduction is at the heart of the evolutionary process. But greater success for her often means less success for him. The upshot? An eternal war—and an astounding diversity of strategies.”
Olivia Judson (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I cannot marry a man who would restrict my success. He knew I was an actress before approaching me, so why would he restrict my success? That means such a person is selfish and doesn’t appreciate what I am doing. Why would I settle down with a man that will restrict my success”
Temitope Solaja wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Everyone has their own perception of the word ‘success’. To you, success could mean hit tracks, to me success could mean being able to complete a full song for self or for another human being.”
Munachi Abii (born 1987) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The secret of my success is not far-fetched. With all honesty and modesty, I can say that determination and hard work are the keys to my success and I believe that other athletes can also achieve success if they are determined and hard working.”
Mariam Usman (born 1990) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Maryam Usman: The secrets of my success, Niche, November 30, 2014.
“For me it is not certainly how much you have, success cannot be measure with material possessions, as success is not a destination but a means and parameter of achieving what you set out to do, I see it much as fulfilment, it’s like writing an exam and you passed, to me the fulfilment I got from the pass is success to me.”
Kayode Ajulo wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One's worth and self-regard ought to come from individual competitive performance, not from group identity. Pride based on clan or tribal connections is atavistic. It appeals to people who fear they cannot succeed as individuals, and by diverting their energies it all but ensures they will not succeed as individuals.”
William A. Henry III (1950–1994) said by 1994 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Feeling does not succeed in converting consolation into truth, nor does reason succeed in converting truth into consolation.”
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact. I did not hesitate to let it be known of me, that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) said by 1895 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For thousands of years people have been trying to force other people to think their way. Did they succeed? No. Will they succeed? No. Why? Because brute force is not an argument.”
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) said by 1899 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you could only imprison a thought, then intellectual tyranny might succeed. If you could only take an argument and put a striped suit of clothes on it -- if you could only take a good, splendid shining fact and lock it up in some dungeon of ignorance, so that its light would never again enter the mind of man, then you might succeed in stopping human progress. Otherwise, no.”
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) said by 1899 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And most of all, I want to emphasize to you, Mr. President-elect, that we now are going to want to do everything we can to help you succeed, because if you succeed, then the country succeeds.”
Barack Obama (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men who can succeed in deceiving no one else will succeed at last in deceiving themselves.”
Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) first seen 1865 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Miss Mackenzie, Ch. 13. (1865) · Project Gutenburg e-text
“I mean to make myself a man, and if I succeed in that, I shall succeed in everything else.”
James A. Garfield (1831–1881) said by 1881 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: A Dictionary of Thoughts : Being A Cyclopedia Of Laconic Quotations from the Best Authors of the World, Both Ancient and Modern (1908) by Tryon Edwards, p. 327
“I have always believed that for America to succeed, rural America must succeed.”
Joe Biden (born 1942) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not that we cannot think. It is that we are afraid to think. It is so much easier to go with the tide than against it, to shout with the crowd than to stand lonely and suspect in the midst of it. Even some of us who try to escape this hypnotism of the flock do not succeed in thinking independently. We only succeed in getting into other flocks.”
Alfred George Gardiner (1865–1946) first seen 1920 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From "Thinking for One's Self", Leaves in the Wind (1920)
“It might be an impossible task, but at least it was a well-defined one. The rules for performance were no problem. He had learned them long ago on Teufel: you succeed, or you die trying. Until you succeed, you never relax. Until you die, you never give up.”
Charles Sheffield (1935–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source