Anyone in leadership can attest to the personal struggles they shoulder when dealing with failure. Whether it’s a day-to-day burden or an occasional issue, failure not dealt with correctly can have a lasting effect on a person’s motivation, productivity, and confidence. Some people struggle with the potential of failure so much to the point they avoid innovation altogether, dreaming of a different world but not having the gumption to push through the fear of failure. However, failure, as well as the fear of it, is a demon everyone has to deal with. It is a human issue not a personal anomaly, and with innovation and progress occurring all around us, it is safe to say some people have figured out how to keep the demon of failure at bay. Here are 10 quotes from some of history’s most celebrated individuals who didn’t conquer failure, but overcame it.
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt
My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. – Abraham Lincoln
If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative. – Woody Allen
Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. – Benjamin Franklin
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. – Thomas A. Edison
Ambition is the last refuge of the failure. – Oscar Wilde
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. – Henry Ford
It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case, you have failed by default. – J.K. Rowling
If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. – Zig Ziglar
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill
What are some of your favorite quotes on overcoming failure? How have you overcome mistakes to become more affective? Let us know in the comments section below!
When you learned to ride a bike, you fell and got back up. Sales is the same!