BC Business
Nobody likes the sound of failure. But if you listen to some of the brightest minds and the most accomplished leaders of our time, you’ll find that the measure of success has everything to do with our ability to embrace the value of losing.
“I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.” —Benjamin Franklin “A man may fall many times, but he won’t be a failure until he says that someone pushed him.” — Elmer G. Letterman “It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.” —Babe Ruth “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” —Nelson Mandela “Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” —Steve Jobs “I have found that I always learn more from my mistakes than from my successes. If you aren’t making some mistakes, you aren’t taking enough chances.” —John Sculley “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” —Bill Gates “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” —Bill Gates “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” —Albert Einstein “When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” —Alexander Graham Bell “When people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together.” —Isaac Asimov “Only doers make mistakes…. The more you do, the more mistakes you make. Failure in life is not the mistakes you make as you attempt things; failure is when you don’t try.” —Jim Pattison “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 “Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” —Winston Churchill “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” —Winston Churchill “History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.” —B. C. Forbes “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” —Samuel Beckett “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” —Napoleon Hill “Recovering from failure is often easier than building from success.” —Michael Eisner “Most people achieved their greatest success one step beyond what looked like their greatest failure.” —Brian Tracy Your turn: What’s the motivational quote that spurs you on more than any other?