Failure and Setbacks Quotes

"All human actions are equivalent and all are on principle doomed to failure."

"He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being."

"War remains the decisive human failure."

"The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure."

"Failure isn't an option. I've erased the word 'fear' from my vocabulary, and I think when you erase fear, you can't fail."

"To not follow your passion in life is a recipe for failure and unhappiness."

"We will all fail in life, but nobody has to be a failure. Failing at a thing doesn't make you a failure. You are only a failure when you quit trying."

"Success is more difficult to handle than failure."

"I'm hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure."

"Failure saves lives. In the airline industry, every time a plane crashes the probability of the next crash is lowered by that. The Titanic saved lives because we're building bigger and bigger ships. So these people died, but we have effectively improved the safety of the system, and nothing failed in vain."

"The most effective leaders are actually better at guarding against danger when they acknowledge it that it exists. Cowards, in contrast, cling to the hope that failure will never happen and may be sloppy in the face of danger - not because they don't acknowledge that it exists, but because they are just too afraid of it to look it in the eye."

"Fact: From quitting smoking to skiing, we succeed to the degree we try, fail, and learn. Studies show that people who worry about mistakes shut down, but those who are relaxed about doing badly soon learn to do well. Success is built on failure."

"Whether in success or in failure, I'm proud of every single movie I've ever directed."

"The only TV I would be interested in exploring would be live television. There's no substitute for a team of artists performing at their peak live when failure is possible. It's a high-wire act. That excites me."

"Treat failure as a lesson on how not to approach achieving a goal, and then use that learning to improve your chances of success when you try again. Failure is only the end if you decide to stop."

"Overhead will eat you alive if not constantly viewed as a parasite to be exterminated. Never mind the bleating of those you employ. Hold out until mutiny is imminent before employing even a single additional member of staff. More startups are wrecked by overstaffing than by any other cause, bar failure to monitor cash flow."

"I guess I'm motivated by the fear of failure to some degree and knowing what can happen when you don't do things the way you need to do them to have success."

"In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world."

"Failure is nature's plan to prepare you for great responsibilities."

"There's a silly notion that failure's not an option at NASA. Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."

"Failure is central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation. Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail."

"Failure. It doesn't exist. 'Failure' is just what happens when we lose perspective."

"Failure is more frequently from want of energy than want of capital."

"Failure means a stripping away of the inessential."

"A real failure does not need an excuse. It is an end in itself."

"Failure has gone to his head."

"Being human means you will make mistakes. And you will make mistakes, because failure is God's way of moving you in another direction."

"Failure is simply the non-presence of success. But a fiasco is a disaster of mythic proportions."

"Success and failure are both part of life. Both are not permanent."

"Sticking to good habits can be hard work, and mistakes are part of the process. Don't declare failure simply because you messed up or because you're having trouble reaching your goals. Instead, use your mistakes as opportunities to grow stronger and become better."

"A man can get discouraged many times but he is not a failure until he begins to blame somebody else and stops trying."

"The failure of academic feminists to recognize difference as a crucial strength is a failure to reach beyond the first patriarchal lesson. In our world, divide and conquer must become define and empower."

"Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure."

"When people read 'Breitbart' every single day and convince themselves that Barack Obama is a foreign terrorist, that is not a problem of government. That is a problem of community failure, and we have to recognize that."

"When you believe in your dream and your vision, then it begins to attract its own resources. No one was born to be a failure."

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I, therefore, intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt."

"If a building looks better under construction than it does when finished, then it's a failure."

"In Torch Song, I did that character almost non-stop from 1978 until I made the movie in 1987. Then I had some failure, which also colors how you react to doing other things."

"I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate."

"Successful entrepreneurs find the balance between listening to their inner voice and staying persistent in driving for success - because sometimes success is waiting right across from the transitional bump that's disguised as failure."

"Never fret for an only son, the idea of failure will never occur to him."

"It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done."

"Fear of failure is caused by lack of self-esteem and confidence. Dealing with fear is the key to super success."

"Without failure there is no achievement."

"If there exists no possibility of failure, then victory is meaningless."

"Greatly begin. Though thou have time, but for a line, be that sublime. Not failure, but low aim is crime."

"You can be discouraged by failure, or you can learn from it. So go ahead and make mistakes, make all you can. Because, remember that's where you'll find success - on the far side of failure."

"We need to teach the highly educated man that it is not a disgrace to fail and that he must analyze every failure to find its cause. He must learn how to fail intelligently, for failing is one of the greatest arts in the world."

"While it is important for people to see your promise you must also remember that hope is the keeper of both happiness and disappointment, the father of both progress and failure."

"Ultimately, all human activities have as their goal the realization of happiness. Why, then, have we ended up producing the opposite result? Could the underlying cause be our failure to correctly understand the true nature of happiness?"