Famous quotes
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“I approve of all you say, gentlemen. The fleet's needs are many and urgent. One, however, must take precedence. This item the men need before all, and we must get it for them without fail and without deferral. We must get the men a victory.”
Steven Pressfield (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.”
Mary Tyler Moore (1936–2017) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Winning Words: Quotations to Uplift, Inspire, Motivate and Delight (2002) edited by Allen Klein, p. 14
“After I had given up to go, the thoughts of the journey were often attended with unusual sadness, at which times my heart was frequently turned to the Lord with inward breathings for his heavenly support, that I might not fail to follow him wheresoever he might lead me.”
John Woolman (1720–1772) said by 1772 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The development of design principles based on objective visual tests, experience, and logic; the pursuit of research in the physiological and psychological effects of color; and investigations in perceptibility and readability in typography are being carried on in other fields... such a movement in cartography cannot fail to materialize”
Arthur H. Robinson (1915–2004) first seen 1996 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 13-14; As cited in: Clifford H. Wood, C. Peter Keller (1996) Cartographic design: theoretical and practical perspectives. p. 21
“The reason for the lack of business in this House is perfectly clear and it is not the responsibility of this House to deal with the matter. The Taoiseach and the cabal that runs Fine Gael have decided that they will take over the role previously held by Fianna Fáil as the slightly constitutional party. They have decided to destroy the Seanad by refusing to refer legislation to it.”
David Norris (born 1944) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 14 May 2013
“Seventy percent of all IT projects fail—and scores of books have attempted to help firms measure and manage IT systems and processes better in order to turn this figure around.”
Jeanne W. Ross (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A good corroborating chain, if they fail in the last link, the whole will fall to the ground.”
Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (1714–1794) first seen 1763 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wilkes v. Wood (1763), Lofft. 12.
“The human eye is a wonderful device,” I quoted from Poems and Other Prevarications absently. “With a little effort, it can fail to see even the most glaring injustice.”
Richard Morgan (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Committees are] a tool of the democratic, knowledge-pooling, and desire-harmonizing process which cannot be otherwise forwarded. And when committees fail, as they sometimes do, it is because the limits to their role are not clearly understood or because they have not benefited by proper leadership from the chairman.”
Ordway Tead (1891–1973) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ordway Tead (1935) Creative Management: The Relation of Aims to Administration. p. 39.
“I saw a fullness, a brightness with which I felt myself so filled that words fail me, nor can I find anything to compare it with. I cannot tell you that I saw something with a bodily form, but he was as he is in heaven, namely, of such an indescribable beauty that I do not know how to describe it to you except as the Beauty and the All Good.”
Angela of Foligno (1248–1309) said by 1309 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In my view, and we've introduced legislation to deal with this, if a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.”
Bernie Sanders (born 1941) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 2016 Presidential Campaign Rally in Madison, Wisconsin, (1 July 2015) at 43:00
“Wall Street won’t change until we make it clear that no bank is too big to fail and no CEO is too big to jail.”
Bernie Sanders (born 1941) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wells Fargo’s Business Model is Fraud, Medium (22 September 2016)
“The slave mentality of 1,200 years is troubling us. Often, when we meet a person of high stature, we fail to muster strength to speak up.”
Narendra Modi (born 1950) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jun 13, 2014. Quoted from 1,200 years of servitude: PM Modi offers food for thought
“In every particular in which a picture constitutes a sight that is not identical with the sight represented, the picture will fail to communicate the represented object.”
Alexander Bryan Johnson (1786–1867) said by 1867 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Worship without a symbol, a garden without a source of water, and the household affairs of one without a woman, all these are doomed to fail.”
“When you're up against a trouble, Meet it squarely, face to face; Lift your chin and set your shoulders, Plant your feet and take a brace. When it's vain to try to dodge it, Do the best that you can do; You may fail, but you may conquer, See it through!”
Edgar Guest (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It takes a certain amount of courage to tackle very hard problems in science, I now realise. You don't know what the timescale of your work will be: decades or only a few years. Or your approach may be fatally flawed and doomed to fail. Or you could get scooped just as you are finalising your work. It is very stressful.”
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (born 1952) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“His eyes were judging me. It was as if I was the last of a long line of grown-ups who would fail him.”
Michael Nava (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Alex] "I never knew how many ways there were to fail until I moved here.”
Michael Nava (born 1954) first seen 2004 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p.41 (Chapter 4) [page numbers as per the Alyson Publications Paperback Edition, April 2004]
“History is full of instances, wherein, victory would have been to the vanquished, if only they had battled a little longer! We often fail for lack of perseverance in our efforts. We leave our work half done in our impatience. Every job demands its quota of efforts. Never give up too soon.”
Chinmayananda Saraswati (1916–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Blest pair! if aught my verse avail, No day shall make your memory fail From off the heart of time.”
John Conington (1825–1869) said by 1869 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We absorb attitudes as well as subject matter in the learning process. ...the attitudes tend to determine what we see, and what we fail to see, in the subject matter. This is why attitude is just as important as content in the educational process.”
Cyrus H. Gordon (1908–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you think small, you don’t grow. If you think big, you grow. It’s better to try and fail than never to try at all.”
Aliko Dangote (born 1957) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to African CEOs at the Dangote Industries Limited event (2025)
“Made in Sheffield, and guaranteed never to fail! Good slicer this is, real good. You can cut a man in half with one of these if you get the stroke right.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) first seen 1796 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 207, Daniel Fletcher (describing his 1796 light cavalry sabre)
“On balance, the cartesian metaphor of organism as machine has proved to be a good idea. Ideas do not have to be correct in order to be good; its only necessary that, if they do fail, they do so in an interesting way.”
Robert Rosen (1934–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: R. Rosen Life, p. 248, quoted in: Carl F Gethmann (2011) Lebenswelt und Wissenschaft. p. 139
“In Uttar Pradesh, caste politics is deep-rooted. But there is a negative side of it. When something is deep-rooted, it takes time for people to realise its ill effects, that’s natural. When a political culture takes shape, it takes time for it to fail.”
“It is time to change the political discourse on globalization: trade is a good thing, but fair and sustainable development also demands public services, infrastructure, health and education systems. In turn, these themselves demand fair taxation systems. If we fail to deliver these, Trumpism will prevail.”
Thomas Piketty (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Political theorists often fail to appreciate that arguments about how politics ought to be organized typically depend on relational claims involving agents, actions, legitimacy, and ends.”
Ian Shapiro (born 1956) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Flight from Realityin the Human Science (2005), Chapter 4. Gross Concepts in Political Argument.
“The basic rules of the road for science: Test ideas by experiment and observation. Build on those ideas that pass the test. Reject the ones that fail. Follow the evidence wherever it leads. And question everything. including authority.”
Ann Druyan (born 1949) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let us not fail to realise that pantheism means, not simply the all-pervasive interblending and interpenetration of God and other life, but the sole causality of God, and so the obliteration of freedom, of moral life, and of any immortality worth the having; in a word, of the true being of God himself.”
George Holmes Howison (1834–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I purpose setting off in the course of a few days for Paris where I mean to reside till the beginning of October. I shall not fail of paying my respects to the Irish monarch at Versailles, and will use my endeavours to procure a correct drawing of his august person.”
Joseph Ritson (1752–1803) said by 1803 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People naturally aspire to the symbols and the ideals of our nation. Yet whether it is a political party, a church, a charity - any institution built by man can fail and can fall. The key thing is to aspire to be better. And, for our political institutions, to understand that self sacrifice - just like forgiveness - is at the centre of the order of things.”
Alex Salmond (1954–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“History has placed a tremendous responsibility on the shoulders of this country's leadership, namely the responsibility of moving our country away from the current course of conflict and confrontation... The hope of millions of South Africans is fixed on us. The future of southern Africa depends on us. We dare not waver or fail.”
F. W. de Klerk (1936–2021) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to Parliament (February 1990)
“In considering whether a larger association would be more satisfactory, do not fail to consider its extra costs, including a possible increase in the sense of individual powerlessness.”
Robert A. Dahl (1915–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It must now be added that these attempts at proof not only fail of their purpose, and so do no good to religion, but that they positively degrade it.”
Walter Terence Stace (1886–1967) said by 1967 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Speed to Fail" should be every entrepreneur's motto. When you finally find the one idea that can't be killed, go with it.”
“Idiots lack imagination, coupled with the tunnel vision - means the ship will be submerged before they realize it hit an iceberg. You not only need to do or say things that warrant attention, you need to exaggerate them so much he can't possibly fail to notice.”
John Hoover (consultant) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Masochistic Bosses make sure their departments fail so upper management will deal out punishment.”
John Hoover (consultant) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A few of them fire their pieces. At first they do so almost timidly, as if fearing a rebuke for wasting ammunition when they do not see the enemy. Others do nothing. Some fail to act mainly because they are puzzled what to do and their leaders do not tell them; others are wholly unnerved and can neither think nor move in sensible relation to the situation.”
S.L.A. Marshall (1900–1977) said by 1977 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Why,” she said, “did they leave their kingdom to us?” “As well ask why they brought our ancestors to this star. Oh, yes, I think our races were taken from some other planet entirely, to be their toy. If we guess them to be gods, why stint them? Their avarice and callousness would be gargantuan. We can hardly fail to see that.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you depart from evil but fail to do good, you transgress the law, which is fulfilled not simply by abominating evil deeds but also by performing good works.”
Pelagius (354–420) said by 420 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The most recent annoying survey is the one that predicts Windows 8 Tablets will fail because there is no demand for the product. I'm sure a similar survey made a year before the iPhone or iPad would have likely concluded the same thing about those products.”
Rob Enderle (born 1954) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: No Demand for Windows 8 Tablets? Or Don't Trust Predictive Surveys in CIO (13 January 2012)
“Often, firms that were successful start to fail after a successful CEO departs, largely because they spent little time mentoring the successor in making successful decisions. ... I think we are seeing this play out at Apple at the moment ...”
Rob Enderle (born 1954) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Why Turnarounds Fail: Trump Edition in IT Business Edge (2 February 2017)
“The cause of [Apple v. Qualcomm] appears to be an effort by Apple to pressure Qualcomm into providing a unique discount, largely because Apple has run into an innovation wall, is under increased competition from firms like Samsung, and has moved to a massive cost reduction strategy. (I've never known this to end well, as it causes suppliers to create unreliable components and outright fail.)”
Rob Enderle (born 1954) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Apple vs. Qualcomm Litigation and the Nuclear Option in IT Business Edge (14 April 2017)
“A niche is created by the intersection of resource constraints— an abstract resource space consisting of a unique combination of resources (information, access to materials, customers, and so on) that could permit a form to survive there. Forms thus either take advantage of a niche resource space" or fail.”
Howard E. Aldrich (born 1943) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 40; cited in: Frank Marutollo (1990). Organizational Behavior in the Marine Corps. p. 33
“Almost any reality which we fail to confront and deal with in some way, will try to possess us. This is as true of autonomous complexes or spirits as of germs and bacteria.”
Morton Kelsey (1917–2001) said by 2001 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are in the Muslim mass mind some catchy phrases which never fail to set their minds aflame, such as ‘Islam in danger’, ‘‘jehad’’, ‘*Convert the Dar-ul-Harb into Dar-ul-Islam”.”
H. V. Sheshadri (1926–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Vampires, like virgins or priests, are things that women believe in. We must never fail to humor them in such matters.”
Brian McNaughton (1935–2004) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Child of the Night" in 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories (1995) edited by Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz, and Martin H. Greenberg
“The thought flashed that this was what taking chances was—you always thought in the back of your mind that doing the right thing would lead you down the right path to the right outcome. But when it came down to it, you might still fail, and everything might end in disaster. Faith in your decision did not mean that the best was going to happen.”
Tina Connolly (born 1950) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The ocean is large and resilient, but it is not too big to fail. What we are taking out of the sea, what we are putting into the sea are actions that are undermining the most important thing the ocean delivers to humankind – our very existence.”
Sylvia Earle (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source