Famous quotes
Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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Success and failure
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“I am not a perfectionist at all. I love failure. I love mistakes. I love the bizarre. I love characters. I love missing teeth. I love beauty because your eyes are off-center. And how can you notice that in the buzz of the city? So I like the emptiness.”
Josh Homme (born 1973) first seen 2011 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reported in Jonathan Horsley, "Queens of the Stone Age: Josh Homme Q&A", Decibel Magazine (July 22nd, 2011).
“Ideals are not summaries of the empirical facts about human personality and behaviour: they are the standards by reference to which we pass judgment on the facts. Since ideals are not empirical generalizations, to cite counterinstances, however plentiful, would merely be to betray one’s total failure to understand the nature of the subject-matter under discussion.”
R. W. K. Paterson (born 1933) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Human beings are not very good at taking losses or admitting failure.”
William J. Bernstein (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The failure to understand that unification and division are a part of the same process has produced some illusions about politics.”
Elmer Eric Schattschneider (1892–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And a great longing overcame him, a desire to be finished with desire, to forego pleasure and pain, to quit the petty modes of achievement and failure, to have done with distractions, and get on with the business of life, which was death.”
Robert Sheckley (1928–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The failure mode of clever is “asshole.”
John Scalzi (born 1969) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Failure Mode of Clever, 2010
“For every dollar spent in failure, learn a dollar’s worth of lesson.”
Jesse Robbins (born 1978) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Chamberlain's sins were not his intentions, but rather his ignorance and arrogance in failing to appraise the situation properly. And in that failure he was not alone.”
Joseph Nye (1937–2025) said by 2025 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Jesus Christ is personally unknown to the vast masses of men on all continents. His influence is limited by the failure and indifference of his professed followers.”
Kirby Page (1890–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Predictions of failure have been made every time an extension of governmental jurisdiction has been suggested.”
Kirby Page (1890–1957) said by 1957 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sinners … had been taught to think of sin as the failure of observe laws of which they were usually quite ignorant. Sin was therefore not always a fully deliberate act.”
Albert Nolan (1934–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had no great sense of failure. I didn’t come out of the campaign with the sense that I’d thrown my career away or thrown my life away on what was a fruitless, feckless endeavor. I felt that I had made my mark on the pages of history and laid down some markers for others possibly to follow.”
John B. Anderson (1922–2017) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in No Holding Back : The 1980 John B. Anderson Presidential Campaign (2011) by Jim Mason, p. 412
“Tolstoy set for himself the highest ideal that has ever been given to the world, and Tolstoy failed. He has had pointed at him fingers of scorn, and very unworthy fingers they were, but who has the right to judge Tolstoy for failure to live perfectly a life that has for two thousand years been an unattainable ideal to millions of earnest souls?”
Robert Hunter (author) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The failure of the social sciences to think through and to integrate their several responsibilities for the common problem of relating the analysis of parts to the analysis of the whole constitutes one of the major lags crippling their utility as human tools of knowledge.”
Robert Staughton Lynd (1892–1970) first seen 1939 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: R.S. Lynd (1939) Knowledge of What? p. 15, cited in Karl William Kapp (1976), The nature and significance of institutional economics. in: Kyklos, Vol 29/2, Jan 1976, p. 209
“The essential purpose of Christianity was to transform human society into the kingdom of God by regenerating all human relations and reconstituting them in accordance with the will of God. ...I have never met with any previous attempt to give a satisfactory historical explanation of this failure.”
Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918) said by 1918 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Another common deficiency is the failure of some panaceas to take into account a social system's developmental responsibilities to its stakeholders.”
Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) said by 2009 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The technical and commercial functions of a business are clearly defined, but the same cannot be said of the administrative function. Not many people are familiar with its constitution and powers; our senses cannot follow its workings - we do not see it build or forge, sell or buy - and yet we all know that, if it does not work properly, the undertaking is in danger of failure.”
Henri Fayol (1841–1925) said by 1925 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The old man told how he was now worthless and no good to anyone anymore because he was filled with despair, and despair was useless in times such as these. He told him to remain angry, because anger was more useful than despair and would deliver him. But to despair would surely lead to failure and tragedy.”
Robert Olmstead (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I look back on January 6 as this combination of a genuine belief on his part [Trump] that the election was stolen and a catastrophic failure of policing that doesn't look entirely accidental. [...] We were all treated to a theatrical event with an amateur cast that really one would be stretching the English language to call a coup or even an attempted coup.”
Niall Ferguson (born 1964) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Niall Ferguson: I was wrong to call Donald Trump a would-be tyrant", The Times (January 3, 2025).
“I think perfection is ugly. Somewhere in the things humans make, I want to see scars, failure, disorder, distortion. If I can feel those things in works by others, then I like them.”
Yohji Yamamoto (born 1943) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Kiyokazu Washida. The Past, the Feminine, the Vain in Talking to Myself (2002), Ch. 2: The Feminine, or the Gap Which Cannot be Filled.
“It's a failure only if you don't get anything out of it, Thomas Edison said he knew 999 ways that a light bulb did not work; yet we have lights today.”
Ben Carson (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wanted to be a poet as a child and I have a wall in my study dedicated to poetry books, all in alphabetical order, that reminds me daily of my failure.”
Colm Tóibín (born 1955) first seen 2012 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: World of Colm Tóibín, writer, The Daily Telegraph (27 February 2012)
“Has mankind evolved to a point that there exists, or that with creative additions and re-combinations of modest proportions, there can be shown to be available, a common systems methodology, in terms of which we can conceive of, plan, design, construct, and use systems (procedures, machines, teams of people) of any arbitrary type in the service of mankind, and with low rates of failure?”
Arthur D. Hall (1924–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 3 Cited in: Derek Hitchins (2007) "Systems Methodology
“The story of your youth must not turn into a catalog of what became important in your later life. It must also contain the dissipation, the failure, and the waste.”
Elias Canetti (1905–1994) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: J. Agee, trans. (1989), p. 29
“There is something impure in the laments about the dangers of our time, as if they could serve to excuse our personal failure.”
Elias Canetti (1905–1994) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: J. Agee, trans. (1989), p. 108
“The cause of the intellectual and spiritual decadence of the entire Muslim world is not to be found in a supposedly overwhelming "worldliness" of the Muslim people but, on the contrary, in the insufficient worldliness on the part of their religious leadership: a failure which resulted in the gradual alienation of the Muslim faith from the Muslim reality.”
Muhammad Asad (1900–1992) said by 1992 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“War represents the supreme failure of nations to resolve their differences. From a strictly pragmatic standpoint, it is the most inefficient waste of lives and resources ever conceived.”
Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Men corner the market on what evolutionary biologists call mate-choice failure, with documented cases involving everything from lampposts to trees to vacuum cleaners. We all make mistakes, I guess – but men more often than women.”
Steve Stewart-Williams (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“After Clinton's failure to reform our health care system, we ended up with a cumbersome, profit-driven, consumer-unfriendly, inefficient health care delivery system dominated by insurance companies. And I mean dominated.”
Bernie Sanders (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are not to call for tyranny and bans on freedom. It is obvious that we cannot stop publication of what we view as indecent in our sacred faith...failing to make use of Western freedom of press and other technologies to show the West the values of Islam is intellectual failure and a guilt that should not be linked to Islam.”
Tawakkol Karman (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“it has now become obvious that most of the state institutions, including the judiciary, the army, the security apparatus and most of the government departments, stood against him [Morsi]. They acted in a co-ordinated manner to foment a crisis aimed at impeding the president and forcing failure on him.”
Tawakkol Karman (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The popular rallies at Rabaa al-Adawiya and other squares across Egypt will defeat despotism and terrorism in the long run. But in the meantime, any solution that fails to restore the public's confidence in the ballot box and falls short of alleviating the sense of victimhood in the Morsi camp will be doomed to failure.”
Tawakkol Karman (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The making of decisions, as everyone knows from personal experience, is a burdensome task. Offsetting the exhilaration that may result from correct and successful decision and the relief that follows the termination of a struggle to determine issues is the depression that comes from failure, or error of decision, and the frustration which ensues from uncertainty.”
Chester Barnard (1886–1961) said by 1961 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm not the man to say that failure's sweet, Nor tell a chap to laugh when things go wrong; I know it hurts to have to take defeat An' no one likes to lose before a throng; It isn't very pleasant not to win When you have done the very best you could; But if you're down, get up an' buckle in— A lickin' often does a fellow good.”
Edgar Guest (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can do as much as you think you can, But you'll never accomplish more; If you're afraid of yourself, young man, There's little for you in store. For failure comes from the inside first, It's there if we only knew it, And you can win, though you face the worst, If you feel that you're going to do it.”
Edgar Guest (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No one is beat till he quits, No one is through till he stops, No matter how hard Failure hits, No matter how often he drops, A fellow's not down till he lies In the dust and refuses to rise.”
Edgar Guest (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Take risks and don't fear failure”
Waheeda Rehman (born 1938) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When your ankles swell up three times the size they were before, that means heart failure. And he does look sick. And he does babble and it sounds like the brain’s not doing too hot. And so, we just cut bait on Trump and we just mobilize against the Democrats.”
Alex Jones (born 1974) first seen 2026 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Alex Jones turns on Trump: ‘His brain’s not doing too hot’" Wonderwall (April 1, 2026)
“Great complaints were made by both sides as to whose fault it was that there was a failure, but I told the navy I didn't want to hear anything about it; they did not get through, and didn't get the fort, and the less said about it the better.”
David Dixon Porter (1813–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most social acts have to be understood in their setting, and lose meaning if isolated. No error in thinking about social facts is more serious than the failure to see their place and function.”
Solomon Asch (1907–1996) first seen 1952 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Solomon Asch, Social Psychology (1952), p. 61.
“In all worthwhile undertakings, There will be risks of failure, of disappointments, of even disaster. To face them all with inner poise and firm faith is to discover the glory of final victory.”
Chinmayananda Saraswati (1916–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Who will demand accountability for the failure of our national political leadership involved in the management of this war? They have unquestionably been derelict in the performance of their duty. In my profession, these types of leaders would immediately be relieved or court martialed.”
Ricardo Sanchez (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All programs in the future will be written in a way that there is no single point of failure. There's no one server that can die and take down the service.”
Ray Ozzie (born 1955) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ray Ozzie's view from the clouds in CNET (18 November 2009).
“The path to truly new, never-been-done-before things always has failure along the way … It’s supposed to be hard. … Solving the problem must matter. It must instill a sense of urgency … And that urgency cannot be created in the abstract; it has to be real to inspire greater genius.”
Regina E. Dugan (born 1963) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "The CNN 10 : Thinkers" (2013)
“Those choice had to be made, Jeff thought He’d learned to accept the potential losses, in the hope that they would be outweighed by the gains. The only certain failure, he knew, and the most grievous, would be never to risk at all.”
Ken Grimwood (1944–2003) said by 2003 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In this sense the Negro problem is not only America's greatest failure but also America's incomparably great opportunity for the future. If America should follow its own deepest convictions, its well-being at home would be increased directly. At the same time America's prestige and power abroad would rise immensely.”
Gunnar Myrdal (1898–1987) first seen 1021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 1021
“Black rage is largely a response not to white racism but to black failure.”
Dinesh D'Souza (born 1961) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We believe that we can find the end, and that a painting can be finished. The Abstract Expressionists always felt the painting's being finished was very problematical. We'd more readily say that our paintings were finished and say, well, it's either a failure or it's not, instead of saying, well, maybe it's not really finished.”
Frank Stella (1936–2024) first seen 1966 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Cited from an interview (1966), as cited in Gregory Battcock (ed.) Minimal Art, a Critical Anthology, Berkeley: University of California Press (1968), p. 157-161
“I use the words "unauthorized behavior" rather than "accident" because we must guard against many types of events— psychopathic or irrational individuals, mechanical or human failure, sabotage, irresponsible behavior, and so on.”
Herman Kahn (1922–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The evil in the world is the product of the non-divine minds themselves: the natural evil, of their very nature; the moral, the only real evil, of their failure to answer to their reason with their will.”
George Holmes Howison (1834–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source