Quotes from the greatest minds

[weimy froob]

"we only really face up to ourselves when we are afraid."- thomas bernhard

"life is the acceptance of responsibilities or their evasion; it is a business of meeting obligations or avoiding them. to every man the choice is continually being offered, and by the manner of his choosing you may fairly measure him."- ben ames williams

"the superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest; success only comes later."- confucius

"the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph."- thomas paine

"to overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence."- arthur schopenhauer

"successs is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has overcome trying to succeed."
- booker t. washington

"difficulties exist to be surmounted."- ralph waldo emerson

[weimy froob]

a new chapter: failures and mistakes

"to err is human, to forgive divine."- alexander pope

"the progress of rivers to the ocean is not so rapid as that of man to error."- voltaire

"he who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great."- herman melville

"the greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one."- elbert hubbard

"the best brewer sometimes makes bad beer."- german proverb

"all of us failed to match our dreams of perfection."- william faulkner

"every man's got to figure to get beat sometime."- joe louis

[weimy froob]

"the greatest general is he who makes the fewest mistakes."- napoleon bonaparte

"victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake."- savielly grigorievitch tartakower

"one loss is good for the soul. too many losses are not good for the coach."- knute rockne

"in all science, error precedes the truth, and it is better it should go first than last."- hugh walpole

"virtually nothing comes out right the first time. failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement. the only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try something...one fails forward toward success."- charles f. kettering

“at the final end you won the war after losing every battle.”- bob dylan

[weimy froob]

"any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man."- j. robert oppenheimer speaking of albert einstein

"no man ever progressed to greatness and goodness but through great mistakes."- frederick w robertson

"sometimes a noble failure serves the world as faithfully as a distinguished success."- dowden

"the errors of great men are venerable because they are more fruitful than the truths of little men."- friedrich nietzsche

Spoiler:

[weimy froob]

"a man who has committed a mistake and doesn't correct it is committing another mistake."- confucius

"it is only error in judgment to make a mistake, but it shows infirmity of character to adhere to it when discovered."- christian bovee

"intelligence is not to make mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good."- bertolt brecht

"our mistakes won't irreparably damage our lives unless we let them."- james e. sweaney

"we have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until...we have stopped saying 'it got lost' and say, 'i lost it.'"
-sydney j. harris

"a chief is a man who assumes responsibility. he does not say 'my men were beaten,' he says, 'i was beaten'"- antoine de saint-exupery

[weimy froob]

"the most considerable difference i note among men is not in their readiness to fall into error, but in their readiness to acknowledge these inevitable lapses."- thomas henry huxley

"the fault, dear brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."- william shakespeare

"mistakes fail in their mission of helping the person who blames them on the other fellow."- henry s. haskins

"i have know men who could see through the motivations of others with the skill of a clairvoyant; only to prove blind to their own mistakes. i have been one of them."- bernard m, baruch

"admitting error clears the score, and proves you wiser than before."- arthur guiterman

"the man who can own up to his error is greater than he who merely knows how to avoid making it."- cardinal de retz

"a man may fall many times but he won't be a failure until he says that someone pushed him."- elmer g. letterman

[weimy froob]

don't make the same mistake twice

"do not be afraid of mistakes, providing you do not make the same one twice."- eleanor roosevelt

"fool me once shame on you; fool me twice shame on me."- chinese proverb

"he who is shipwrecked twice is foolish to blame the sea."- pubilius syrus

"he that's cheated twice by the same man is an accomplice with the cheater."- thomas fuller

"if you would not have affliction visit you twice, listen at once to what it teaches."- james burgh

"you can beat the bear once, but never the same way twice."- john mckay

"any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error."- cicero

[weimy froob]

"when we can begin to take our failures non-seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. it is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves."- katherine mansfield

"if i lose, i'll walk away and never feel bad...because i did all i could, there was nothing more to do."- joe frazier

"failure is delay, but not defeat. it is a temporary detour, not a dead-end street."- william arthur ward

"failure is an event, never a person."- william d. brown

"you must have long-range goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-range failures."- charles c. noble

"life is a series of relapses and recoveries."- george ade

[weimy froob]

"we learn courageous action by going forward whenever fear urges us back. a little boy was asked how he learned to skate. 'by getting up every time i fell down,' he answered."- david seabury

"success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."- sir winston churchill

"i don't accept defeat as final. only death is final--and even then i hope for a reprieve."- phil gramm

"never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat."- f. scott fitzgerald

"don't let a kick in the ass stop you. it's how you cope that says what you are."- george cukor

"they say president wilson has blundered. perhaps he has, but i notice he usually blunders forward."- thomas a. edison

[weimy froob]

"not all who seem to fail have failed indeed. not all who fail have therefore worked in vain. there is no failure for the good and the brave."
- archbishop trench

"defeat in doing right is nevertheless victory."- frederick w. robertson

"there are defeats more triumphant than victories."- michel de montaigne

"an error gracefully acknowledged is a victory won."- caroline l. gascoigne

"because a fellow has failed once or twice, or a dozen times, you don't want to set him down as a failure until he's dead or loses his courage--and that's the same thing."- george horace lorimer

"no man is a failure who is enjoying life."- william feather

"you are beaten to earth? well, well, what's that? come up with a smiling face, it's nothing against you to fall down flat, but to lie there--that's disgrace."- edmund vance cooke

[bubu dubu.]

"Thunderbolt and lightning. Very very frightening me"

-Galileo

[weimy froob]

"he's no failure. he's not dead yet."- w.l. george

"inside of a ring or out, ain't nothing wrong with going down.. it's staying down that's wrong."- muhammad ali

"it ain't no disgrace for a man to fall, but to lie there and grunt is."- josh billings

"if a man has a talent and cannot use it, he has failed. if he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed. if he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it he has gloriously succeeded, and won a satisfaction and a triumph few men ever know."- thomas wolfe

"not failure, but low aim, is a crime."- ernest holmes

"there are two kinds of failures: the man who will do nothing he is told, and the man who will do nothing else."- dr. perle thompson

[weimy froob]

"there is no failure except in no longer trying."- elbert hubbard

"men do not fail; they stop trying."- elihu root

"if you're not failing, you're not trying anything."- woody allen

"those who try and fail are much wiser than those who never try for fear of failure."- andre bustanoby

"failure is something made only by those who fail to dare, not by those who dare to fail."- louis binstock

"it takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeeded."- anne morrow lindbergh

"the only failure which lacks dignity is the failure to try."- malcolm f. macneil

[weimy froob]

"life is interesting, if you make mistakes."- georges carpentier

"good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment."- anonymous

"when i have listened to my mistakes, i have grown."- hugh prather

"mistakes and errors are the discipline through which we advance."- channing

"a stumble may prevent a fall."- thomas fuller

"a life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."- george bernard shaw

[weimy froob]

"it is defeat that turns bone to flint; it is defeat that turns gristle to muscle; it is defeat that makes men invincible. do not then be afraid of defeat. you are never so near to victory as when defeated in a good cause."- henry ward beecher

defeat should never be a source of discouragement, but rather a fresh stimulus."- south

"no experiment is ever a complete failure. it can always be used as a bad example."- paul dickson

"there is much to be said for failure. it is more interesting than success."- max beerbohm

"failure is the foundation of success, and the means by which it is achieved."- lao-tzu

"besides the practical knowledge which defeat offers, there are important personality profits to be taken. defeat strips away false values and makes you realize what you really want. it stops you from chasing butterflies and puts you to work digging gold."- william m. marston

[weimy froob]

"let us not be needlessly bitter; certain failures are sometimes fruitful."- e.m. cioran

"if i win several tournaments in a row, i get so confident i'm in a cloud. a loss gets me eager again."- chris evert lloyd

"there's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you."- woody hayes

"failure is only an opportunity to begin again more intelligently."- henry ford

"the wisest person is not the one who has the fewest failure, but the one who turns failures to best account."- richard r. grant

"failure is God's own tool for carving some of the finest outlines in the character of his children."- thomas hodgkin

[weimy froob]

"what is defeat? nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better."- wendell phillips

"nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely."- auguste rodin

"to lose is to learn."- anonymous

"it is the true nature of mankind to learn from mistakes, not from example."- fred hoyle

"the important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose."- john mcenroe

"a failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in the experience."- elbert hubbard

[weimy froob]

"from the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own."- publilius syrus

"learn from the mistakes of others--you can't live long enough to make them all yourself."- martin vanbee

"don't use the conduct of a fool as a precedent."- talmud

"wise men learn by ther men's mistakes, fools by their own."- h.g. bohn

"learn to see in another's calamity the ills which you should avoid."- publilius syrus

"a man is fortunate if he encounters living examples of vice, as well as of virtue, to inspire him."- brendan francis

[weimy froob]

"the causes of mistakes are 'i didn't know'; 'i didn't think'; and 'i didn't care'". henry h. buckley

"failures are divided into two classes: those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought."- john charles salak

"a failure establishes only this,that our determination to succeed was not strong enough."- christian bovee

"defeat is a thing of weariness, of incoherence, of boredom."- antoine de saint-exupery

"failure is more frequently from want of energy than want of capital."- daniel webster

"lack of will power has caused more failures than lack of intelligence or ability."- flower a. newhouse

"losers have tons of variety. champions take pride in just learning to hit the same old boring winners."- vic braden

"the word fate...is the refuge of every self-confessed failure."- andrew soutar

[weimy froob]

"i cannot give you the formula for success, but i can give you the formula for failure: try to please everybody."- herbert baynard swope

"if your project doesn't work, look for the part that you didn't think was important."- arther bloch

"we fail more often by timidity than by over-daring."- david grayson

"ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses."- george washington carver

"one who fears failure limits his activities."- henry ford

"the difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly right."- edward simmons

[weimy froob]

"we have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse."- rudyard kipling

"an error is simply a failure to adjust immediately from a preconception to an actuality."- john cage

"laziness is a secret ingredient that goes into failure. but it's only kept a secret from the person who fails."- robert half

"failure is usually the line of least persistence."- wilfred beaver

"you can't expect to win unless you know why you lose."- benjamin lipson

"most people don't plan to fail, they fail to plan."- john l. beckley

[weimy froob]

"failure is not sweet, but it need not be bitter."- anonymous

"i would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating."- sophocles

"and what if i did run my ship aground; oh, still it was splendid to sail it!"- henrik ibsen

"if you're gonna be a failure, at least be one at something you enjoy."- sylvester stallone

"who would not rather flounder in the fight than not have known the glory of the fray?"- richard hovey

"the probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just."- abraham lincoln

[weimy froob]

a new chapter: the advantages of adversity

"a wounded deer leaps the highest."- emily dickinson

"i have always been pushed by the negative...the apparent failure of a play sends me back to my typewriter that very night, before the reviews are out. i am more compelled to get back to work than if i had a success."- tennessee williams

"adversity is, to me at least, a tonic and a bracer."- sir walter scott

"brave men rejoice in adversity, just as brave soldiers triumph in war."- marcus annaeus seneca

"necessity is often the spur to genius."- honore de balzac

"necessity makes even the timid brave."- sallust

[weimy froob]

"people wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them."- ralph waldo emerson

"difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. the human spirit is to grow strong by conflict."- william ellery channing

"adversity causes some men to break, others to break records."- william a. ward

"opposition inflames the enthusiast, never converts him."- j.c.f. von schiller

"a certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man; it is what he wants and must have to be good for anything. hardship and opposition are the native soil of manhood and self-reliance." john neal

"when the going gets tough, the tough get going."- frank leahy

[weimy froob]

"he that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skills. our antagonist is our helper."- edmund burke

"the block of granite which was an obstacle in the path of the weak becomes a steppingstone in the path of the strong."- thomas carlyle

"strong people are made by opposition, like kites that go up against the wind."- frank harris

"you'll never find a better sparring partner than adversity."- walt schmidt

"problems are the cutting edge that distinguishes between success and failure. problems...create our courage and wisdom."
- m. scott peck

"men strive for peace, but it is their enemies that give them strength, and i think if man no longer had enemies, he would have to invent them, for his strength only grows from struggle."- louis l'amour

[weimy froob]

"much of your pain is the bitter potion by which the physician with you heals your sick self."- kahlil gibran

"there is no coming to consciousness without pain."- carl jung

"suffering is the sole origin of consciousness."- fyodor dostoyevsky

"if you suffer, thank God! it is a sure sign that you are alive."- elbert hubbard

"don't look forward to the day when you stop suffering. because when it comes, you'll know you're dead."- tennessee williams

"never to suffer would have been never to have been blessed."- edgar allan poe

"we are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full."- marcel proust

[weimy froob]

"from the discontent of man, the worlds best progress springs."- ella wheeler wilcox

"the difficulties and struggles of today are but the price we must pay for the accomplishments and victories of tomorrow."- william boetcker

"problems are the price of progress. don't bring me anything but trouble."- charles f. kettering

"trouble is the thing that strong men grow by."- h. bertram lewis

"restlessness is discontent, and discontent is the first necessity of progress."- thomas a. edison

"noble discontent is the path to heaven."- thomas higginson

"discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation."- oscar wilde

[weimy froob]

"the gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials."- confucius

"never complain about your troubles; they are responsible for more than half of your income."- robert r. updegraff

"emergencies have always been necessary to progress. it was darkness that produced the lamp. it was fog that produced the compass. it was hunger that drove us to exploration. and it took a depression to teach us the real value of a job."- victor hugo

"many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties."- charles haddon spurgeon

"it is often hard to distinguish between the hard knocks in life and those of opportunity."- frederick phillips

"a problem is a chance for you to do your best."- duke ellington

[weimy froob]

Fire is the test of gold, adversity of strong men."- marcus annaeus seneca

"the purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace."- charles caleb colton

"a diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure."- anonymous

"it is the north wind that lashes men into vikings."- ouida

"it is grief that develops the powers of the mind."- marcel proust

"unless a man has been kicked around a little, you can't really depend on him to amount to anything."- william feather

"adversity is another way to measure the greatness of individuals. i never had a crisis that didn't make me stronger."- lou holtz

[weimy froob]

"my luck was my father not striking it rich...we'd have been rich. i'd never have set out for hollywood with my camera, and i'd have had a lot less interesting life."- king vidor

"i was lucky i wasn't a better boxer, or that's what i'd be now--a punchy ex-pug."- bob hope

"of all the advantages which come to any young man...poverty is the greatest."- josiah g. holland

"in my youth, poverty enriched me, but now i can afford wealth."- marc chagell

"americans are like a rich father who wishes he knew how to give his sons the hardships that made him rich."- robert frost

"i would never have amounted to anything were it not for adversity. i was forced to come up the hard way."- j.c. penney