Last Updated on February 14, 2024
As humans, we all experience few quotes to overcome failure at some point in our lives. Whether it’s a missed opportunity, a project that didn’t go as planned, or a personal setback, failure can leave us feeling defeated and discouraged.
But it’s important to remember that failure is not the end of the road. In fact, it’s often the beginning of a new journey.
As someone who has faced their fair share of failures, I’ve learned that quotes can be a powerful tool for overcoming these obstacles and moving forward.
One of my favorite quotes comes from author and motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar: “Failure is an event, not a person.”
This quote reminds me that while I may experience failure, it doesn’t define who I am as a person.
Instead, it’s simply an event that I can learn from and grow from. Another quote that has helped me overcome failure is from tennis player, Billie Jean King: “Champions keep playing until they get it right.”
This quote inspires me to keep going, even when I feel like giving up. It reminds me that failure is just a temporary setback, and that with persistence and determination, I can achieve my goals.
But perhaps my favorite quote of all is from inventor Thomas Edison: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
This quote resonates with me because it highlights the importance of reframing failure as a learning opportunity. Instead of viewing failure as a negative outcome, Edison saw it as a necessary step towards success.
He understood that every failure brought him closer to his ultimate goal, and that by persevering through these setbacks, he could achieve great things.
Quotes like these have helped me overcome my own failures, and I believe they can do the same for others.
Whether you’re facing a professional setback, a personal challenge, or just feeling discouraged, these quotes can provide the motivation and inspiration you need to keep going.
So the next time you’re faced with failure, remember that it’s just an event, not a person. Keep playing until you get it right, and view every failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Quotes To Overcome Failure
1. “The secret of life is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” — Paulo Coelho
2. “The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.” – Buddha
3. “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
4. “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan
5. “You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” ― Johnny Cash
6. “When we give ourselves permission to fail, we, at the same time, give ourselves permission to excel.” ― Eloise Ristad
7. “No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure.” – Napoleon Hill
8. “It’s not how far you fall, but how high you bounce that counts.” ― Zig Ziglar
9. “When you take risks, you learn that there will be times when you succeed, and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important.” ― Ellen DeGeneres
10. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett
11. “Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” ― Oprah Winfrey
12. “An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.” – Charles F. Kettering
13. “I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” ― Michael Jordan
14. “When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.” – George Bernard Shaw
15. “With a hint of good judgment, to fear nothing, not failure or suffering or even death, indicates that you value life the most. You live to the extreme; you push limits; you spend your time building legacies. Those do not die.” ― Criss Jami
16. “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” – Confucius
17. “Failure is a part of the process. You just learn to pick yourself back up.” ― Michelle Obama
18. “The master has failed more times than the beginner has tried.” – Stephen McCranie
19. “What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something remarkable?” ― John Green
20. “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
21. “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” ― Confucius
22. “Children have a lesson adults should learn, to not be ashamed of failing, but to get up and try again. Most of us adults are so afraid, so cautious, so ‘safe,’ and therefore so shrinking and rigid and afraid that it is why so many humans fail. Most middle-aged adults have resigned themselves to failure.” ― Malcolm X
23. “A man may fail many times but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.” – John Burroughs
24. “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” ― Napoleon Hill
25. “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” ― Arianna Huffington
26. “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
27. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ― Thomas Edison
28. “When we give ourselves permission to fail, we, at the same time, give ourselves permission to excel.” ― Eloise Ristad
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29. “Anyone who attempts is not a failure.” – Sarah Dessen
30. “Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success. I’ve met people who don’t want to try for fear of failing.” ― J.K. Rowling
31. “Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.” ― Robert T. Kiyosaki
32. “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” – Truman Capote
33. “It’s only when you risk failure that you discover things. When you play it safe, you’re not expressing the utmost of your human experience.” ― Lupita Nyong’o
34. “We are all failures – at least the best of us are.” ― J.M. Barrie
35. “Failure is success in progress.” – Albert Einstein
36. “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” ― Bill Gates
37. “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” ― Henry Ford
38. “No man is defeated without until he has first been defeated within.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
39. “Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.” ― John F. Kennedy
40. “Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” ― C.S. Lewis
41. “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
42. “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead-end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” – Denis Waitley
43. “There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” ― Brene Brown
44. “If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.” – James Cameron
45. “I’d rather be partly great than entirely useless.” ― Neal Shusterman
46. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ― Winston Churchill
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47. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou
48. “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho
49. “There are no failures–just experiences and your reactions to them.” ― Tom Krause
50. “You make mistakes. Mistakes don’t make you.” – Maxwell Maltz
51. “Success is not a good teacher, failure makes you humble.” – Shah Rukh Khan
52. “Remember that failure is an event, not a person.” – Zig Ziglar
53. “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” ― Lance Armstrong
54. “To be wrong is nothing unless you continue to remember it.” – Confucius
55. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” ― Winston Churchill
56. “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein
57. “Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.” – Oscar Wilde
58. “No human ever became interesting by not failing. The more you fail and recover and improve, the better you are as a person. Ever meet someone who’s always had everything work out for them with zero struggle? They usually have the depth of a puddle. Or they don’t exist.” ― Chris Hardwick
59. “Try a thing you haven’t done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not.” – Virgil Thomson
60. “Success is due to our stretching to the challenges of life. Failure comes when we shrink from them.” – John C. Maxwell
61. “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.” – Suzy Kassem
62. “Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.” – George Edward Woodberry
63. “Part of being a man is learning to take responsibility for your successes and for your failures. You can’t go blaming others or being jealous. Seeing somebody else’s success as your failure is a cancerous way to live.” – Kevin Bacon
64. “You always pass failure on your way to success.” – Mickey Rooney
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65. “There’s no reason to fear (temporary) failure. What others may call a failure is only a temporary setback if you really believe in your dreams.” — Kory Livingstone
66. “A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” – Douglas Adams
67. “If I fail, I try again, and again, and again. If YOU fail, are you going to try again? The human spirit can handle much worse than we realize. It matters HOW you are going to FINISH. Are you going to finish strong?” — Nick Vujicic
68. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison
69. “Success comes when people act together; failure tends to happen alone.” – Deepak Chopra
70. “Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be.” – John Wooden
71. “One who fears failure limits his activities.” – Henry Ford
72. “I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustrations were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” – Anthony Robbins
73. “Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire.” – Oprah Winfrey
74. “Sometimes the best gain is to lose.” – George Herbert
75. “Failure after long perseverance is much grander than never to have a striving good enough to be called a failure.” – George Eliot
76. “If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.” – H.G. Wells
77. “My grandmother once told me, ‘Don’t let failure go to your heart and don’t let success go to your head.” – Will Smith
78. “A man may fall many times, but he won’t be a failure until he says that someone pushed him.” – Elmer G. Letterman
79. “Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.” – Mike Ditka
80. “Don’t be afraid of missing opportunities. Behind every failure is an opportunity somebody wishes they had missed.” – Lily Tomlin
81. “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.” – George Bernard Shaw
82. “Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed.” – Robert T. Kiyosaki
83. “The way most people fail is in not keeping up the heart.” – Lady Gregory
84. “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gates
85. “Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn’t work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach.” – Roger ven Oech
86. “There are many victories worse than a defeat.” – George Eliot
87. “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” – Randy Pausch
88. “A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.” – Elbert Hubbard
89. “It is no fun to fail, but you must pick yourself up and get back in the race. The only way you can grow is to challenge yourself beyond your present circumstances.” — Les Brown
90. “Failure is an inescapable part of life and a critically important part of any successful life.” — Tal Ben-Shahar
91. “All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.” – Sophocles
92. “Your dream doesn’t have an expiration date. Take a deep breath and try again.” – Unknown
93. “Don’t fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.” — Bruce Lee
94. “In any case, you must not confuse a single failure with a final defeat.“ – F. Scott Fitzgerald
95. “Failures are made only by those who fail to dare, not by those who dare to fail.” — Lester B. Pearson
96. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Oliver Goldsmith
97. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard
98. “The successful person makes a habit of doing what the failing person doesn’t like to do.” — Thomas Edison
99. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” — Elbert Hubbard
100. “So start to change your mind, that a failure can be kind, If we allow ourselves to learn from it.” — Julie Hebert
101. “Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” ― Oprah Winfrey
102. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” – Richard Branson
103. “You can’t let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you.” ― Barack Obama
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104. “I never fail. It’s just that the people around me succeed more than I.” ― Carroll Bryant
105. “The truth is that our mind needs failure! No great inventions would have come into existence without failure.” — Thibaut Meurisse
106. “It’s only when you risk failure that you discover things. When you play it safe, you’re not expressing the utmost of your human experience.” ― Lupita Nyong’o
107. “Don’t fear failure — not failure, but low aim is the crime. In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail.” ― Bruce Lee
108. “Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.” ― John F. Kennedy
109. “Failure is good as long as it doesn’t become a habit.” – Michael Eisner
110. “Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out.” — Benjamin Franklin
111. “Failure is a part of the process. You just learn to pick yourself back up.” ― Michelle Obama
112. “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” — Robert F. Kennedy
113. “A fear of weakness only strengthens weakness.” — Criss Jami
114. “One who fears failure limits his activities.” — Henry Ford
115. “Sometimes failure is the beginning of success.” ― Astrid Scholte
116. “Let the fear of failure be the background noise of your success.” — Giovanni Dienstmann
117. “It is not failure to fail.” ― Roshani Chokshi
118. “The one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried. Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.” ― Roy T. Bennett
119. “Failures are foundation stones of the Success Forts.” ― Invajy
120. “For some unknown reason, success usually occurs in private, while failure occurs in full view.” ― Jill Shalvis
121. “I don’t let failure defeat me; instead I rise above it to make me stronger.” ― Amanda Ray
122. “Failure is when you talk yourself out of becoming something amazing.” ― Rudy Francisco
123. “The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.” ― John C. Maxwell
124. “You can learn a lot from failure, but that requires you to continue moving forward despite having failed.” ― Darcy Oordt
125. “Failure? I never encountered it. All I ever met were temporary setbacks.” ― Dottie Walters
126. “Failure is constructive feedback that tells you to try a different approach to accomplish what you want.” ― Idowu Koyenikan
127. “If you accept failure as an opportunity to learn, it will change your whole perspective.” ― Catherine Pulsifer
128. “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” ― Chris Bradford
129. “Don’t waste your time hating a failure. Failure is a greater teacher than success. Listen, learn, go on.” ― Clarissa Pinkola Estés
130. “Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something.” ― Morihei Ueshiba
131. “The difference between Success and failure is not giving up.” ― Steven redhead
132. “Giving up is the only sure way to fail.” ― Gena Showalter
133. “The master has failed more times than the beginner has tried.” ― Stephen McCranie
134. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.”– Mark Twain
135. “The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure.” ― John C. Maxwell
136. “You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” ― Beverly Sills
137. “Success builds character, failure reveals it.” – Dave Checkett
138. “I have not failed. I have found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” ― Thomas Edison
139. “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.” ― Suzy Kassem
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140. “Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.”– Coco Chanel
141. “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” ― Samuel Beckett
142. “Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end.” ― Denis Waitley
143. “You’re not obligated to win. You’re obligated to keep trying. To do the best you can do everyday.” – Jason Mraz
144. “A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions–as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
145. “Giving up is the only sure way to fail.” – Gena Showalter
146. “You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” – Beverly Sills
147. “Never feel shame for trying and failing for he who has never failed is he who has never tried.” – Og Mandino
148. “I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest.” – John Keats
149. “A bad day for your ego is a great day for your soul.” – Jillian Michaels
150. “If you don’t try at anything, you can’t fail… it takes back bone to lead the life you want.” – Richard Yates
151. “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes—understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” – Arianna Huffington
152. “There is something good in all seeming failures. You are not to see that now. Time will reveal it. Be patient.” – Swami Sivananda
153. “I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.” – Amelia Earhart
154. “Do not let arrogance go to your head and despair to your heart; do not let compliments go to your head and criticisms to your heart; do not let success go to your head and failure to your heart.” – Roy T. Bennett
155. “Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable.” ― Coco Chanel
156. “You have to be able to accept failure to get better.” ― Lebron James
157. “We’re born with success. It is only others who point out our failures, and what they attribute to us as failure.” ― Whoopi Goldberg
158. “You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone.” ― Johnny Cash
159. “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” ― Maya Angelou
160. “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” ― Dale Carnegie
161. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” ― Michael Jordan
162. “Do not judge me by my successes; judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” ― Nelson Mandela
163. “Failure is success in progress.” ― Albert Einstein
164. “My grandmother once told me, ‘Don’t let failure go to your heart and don’t let success go to your head.” ― Will Smith
165. “All art is failure. How one fails is a different matter.” ― Luc Tuymans
166. “The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it.” ― Rafiki (The Lion King)
167. “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill
168. “Success and failure are equally disastrous.” ― Tennessee Williams
169. “Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles.” ― Jawaharlal Nehru
170. “Some of the biggest failures I ever had were successes.” ― Pearl S. Buck
171. “Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster. ” ― Weston H. Agor
How Can Reading Quotes About Overcoming Failure Help You?
Reading quotes about overcoming failure can be beneficial in a number of ways.
Here are a few reasons why:
- Inspiration: Quotes can provide inspiration and motivation when we’re feeling down or discouraged. They can remind us that even the most successful people have faced failures and setbacks, and that we can learn from their experiences.
- Perspective: Quotes can help us see failure in a new light. Sometimes when we experience failure, it’s easy to get stuck in a negative mindset. Quotes can provide a different perspective and help us reframe failure as an opportunity for growth and learning.
- Encouragement: Quotes can provide encouragement and support when we’re feeling alone or overwhelmed. They can remind us that we’re not the only ones facing challenges, and that others have overcome similar obstacles.
- Focus: Quotes can help us stay focused on our goals and remind us why we’re working towards them. When we experience failure, it’s easy to lose sight of why we started in the first place. Quotes can help us stay on track and keep moving forward.
- Self-reflection: Quotes can also encourage self-reflection and introspection. They can prompt us to examine our own beliefs and attitudes towards failure, and challenge us to think about how we can use our failures as stepping stones towards success.
Next Steps
Implementing quotes about overcoming failure into daily life can be a great way to stay motivated and inspired.
Here are a few ways you can incorporate quotes into your daily routine:
- Write Them Down: Write down your favorite quotes about overcoming failure and post them in places where you’ll see them often, such as on your desk, on your bathroom mirror, or on your refrigerator. Seeing these quotes regularly can help reinforce their messages and keep you motivated throughout the day.
- Share Them With Others: Share your favorite quotes about overcoming failure with friends, family, or coworkers who may be going through a difficult time. Not only will this help them feel supported, but it can also help reinforce the message of the quote for you as well.
- Use Them As Mantras: Use your favorite quotes about overcoming failure as mantras during meditation or mindfulness exercises. Repeat the quote to yourself as a way to focus your thoughts and stay centered.
- Use Them As A Source Of Inspiration: When facing a difficult task or setback, turn to your favorite quotes about overcoming failure for inspiration. Remind yourself that even the most successful people have faced failures and that you can learn from their experiences.
- Journal About Them: Spend some time journaling about your favorite quotes about overcoming failure. Write about how they resonate with you and how you can apply their messages to your own life. This can be a great way to reflect on your own experiences and gain a new perspective on failure.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Know Which Quote To Choose?
Choosing a quote about overcoming failure can be a personal and subjective process. It’s important to choose a quote that resonates with you and speaks to your own experiences.
Look for quotes that inspire you, provide a new perspective on failure, or offer encouragement and support.
You may also want to consider the source of the quote – is it someone you admire or look up to?
Can Quotes Really Help Me Overcome Failure?
Quotes can be a powerful tool for overcoming failure, but they’re not a magic solution. Reading quotes can provide inspiration and motivation, but it’s important to remember that overcoming failure takes time, effort, and perseverance.
Quotes can be a helpful reminder to stay focused and keep going, but ultimately it’s up to you to take action and make changes in your life.
What If The Quotes Don’t Resonate With Me?
Not every quote about overcoming failure will resonate with everyone. If you’ve tried reading quotes and haven’t found any that speak to you, that’s okay.
It’s important to find what works for you, whether that’s seeking support from friends and family, seeking professional help, or finding other sources of inspiration.
Remember that everyone’s journey is unique, and it’s okay if you don’t find the answers you’re looking for in quotes.
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