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“Sometimes failure is the beginning of success.”
This quote comes from a novel by Astrid Scholte. It makes us imagine ourselves accomplishing a particular goal with our first step or attempt being falling flat on our face. It reminds us that sometimes there’ll be failures on our road to whatever destination we’re trying to reach. And sometimes…
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“It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.”
This quote, by Benjamin E. Mays, reminds us that having goals puts us at risk of disappointment, because we may not reach all of them. So we might be tempted to not have any goals at all. If there’s nothing we’re trying to reach, then we’d never have to feel…
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“Forget your past, forgive yourself, and begin again right now.”
We tend to be the harshest critic of our own shortcomings and failures. While a little introspection is good, constantly beating ourselves up over past shortcomings and failures means constantly being stuck in the past. As a result, we’re not able to focus on the present. We become so stuck…
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“Failure is the only opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
Failure provides some of the best learnings and insights. But sometimes we don’t try again at that thing we failed at. This quote, by Henry Ford, reminds us to take advantage of the opportunity to try again. It reminds us to apply the knowledge that failure brings. Sadly, so many…
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“Failure is a bruise, not a tattoo.”
This quote, by poet and writer John Sinclair, reminds us that failure may hurt for a little bit. However, whatever pain or disappointment we feel is not meant to last forever, like a tattoo. Rather, like a bruise, the pain and disappointment goes away. Also like a bruise that heals,…
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“Let your past make you better, not bitter.”
Sometimes the would have, could have, and should haves of our past can seem like a constantly growing and endless list. And each regret or unfortunate event can make us feel bitter. But what if we take every past regret and bad incident and use them to fuel our drive…
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“If you don’t have time for the small things, you won’t have time for the big things”
“Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.”
“You have to set goals that are almost out of reach. If you set a goal that is attainable without much work or thought, you are stuck with something below your true talent and potential.”
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“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure–which is: Try to please everybody.”
While the definition of failure is subjective, it is true that some things don’t work out. And there are a lot of reasons why they don’t work out. This quote, by the iconic journalist Herbert Bayard Swope, describes one of them as trying to please everyone. Sometimes, it’s just impossible…
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“The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.”
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
“I’m not going to continue knocking that old door that doesn’t open for me. I’m going to create my own door and walk through that.”
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“Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.”
When an artist paints a picture, they are constantly working through mistakes. They might realize a color is slightly off, a brush stroke is too thick or in the wrong direction, or an object in the painting isn’t where they want it to be. So they adjust things–and it’s all…
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“Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.”
Sometimes we try at something and experience defeat. And that’s ok. According to this quote, by George Edward Woodberry, not trying at all is the worst kind of failure. Without actually doing something, we automatically fail. But that’s not all. We fail without ever knowing what could have been if…
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“You never fail until you stop trying.”
This anonymous quote forces us to ask ourselves at which point we can legitimately say we failed at something. The simple answer? We can only say we’ve failed when we’ve stopped working at it. When we stop trying, we put and end–a full stop–to whatever it is we’re trying to…
