Failure quotes

“There is but one cause of human failure. And that is man's lack of faith in his true Self.” William James

“We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.” Rudyard Kipling

“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” Clive Staples Lewis

“One's only rival is one's own potentialities. One's only failure is failing to live up to one's own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king.” Abraham Maslow

“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.” Barack Obama

“In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world.” Barack Obama

“The Bush Administration's failure to be consistently involved in helping Israel achieve peace with the Palestinians has been both wrong for our friendship with Israel, as well as badly damaging to our standing in the Arab world.” Barack Obama

“So while I will never minimize the costs involved in military action, I am convinced that a failure to act in Libya would have carried a far greater price for America.” Barack Obama

“No matter how vast, how total, the failure of man here on earth, the work of man will be resumed elsewhere. War leaders talk of resuming operations on this front and that, but man's front embraces the whole universe.” Henry Miller

“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” Colin Powell

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” Colin Powell

“Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.” Colin Powell

“In other words, don't expect to always be great. Disappointments, failures and setbacks are a normal part of the lifecycle of a unit or a company and what the leader has to do is constantly be up and say 'we have a problem, let's go and get it'.” Colin Powell

“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

“I've come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” Tony Robbins

“There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.” Tony Robbins

“It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” Bill Gates

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” Bill Cosby

“I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” Bill Cosby

“Whether in success or in failure, I'm proud of every single movie I've ever directed.” Steven Spielberg

“All human actions are equivalent and all are on principle doomed to failure.” Jean-Paul Sartre

“Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins.” Charles Stanley

“It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.” John Steinbeck

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.” Michael Jordan

“Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is another steppingstone to greatness.” Oprah Winfrey

“I don't believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process.” Oprah Winfrey

“I hate failure and that divorce was a Number One failure in my eyes. It was the worst period of my life. Neither Desi nor I have been the same since, physically or mentally.” Lucille Ball

“A minute's success pays the failure of years.” Robert Browning

“I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.” George Burns

“I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate.” George Burns