25 Wise Quotes About Failure (and Coming Back Stronger Than Ever)

The fear of failure; the monster that kills dreams before they are even born. How many of you didn’t dare to even think about doing something because you knew you weren’t good enough?

We restrain ourselves from living we want because we fear that trying and failing would totally destroy us. In fact, not trying at all is our real enemy.

Some of us take the risk, fail once or twice, and decide to give up. But many of the greatest people in history failed so many times that it made them feel like imposters. In spite of that, they didn’t stop trying and eventually achieved their goal.

Dr. Seuss’ first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was rejected 27 times.

Throughout his adult life, Charlie Chaplin failed numerous times, yet he’s still one of the most famous comics ever.

Colonel Sanders failed in just about every endeavor he was involved in. However, at the age of 65, he set out with his famous KFC chicken recipe.

Albert Einstein was considered a major failure by his own father. J.K. Rowling was a single mother living on welfare – when she finished writing the story of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 12 major publishing houses rejected the book.

The

list is significantly longer, but we hope that these examples alone are enough

to make you reconsider your perspective on failing.

Here are 25 quotes about failure and recovering from it:

Failure is only the opportunity more intelligently to begin again.

HENRY FORD (More Henry Ford quotes)

Remember your dreams and fight for them. You must know what you want from life. There is just one thing that makes your dream become impossible: the fear of failure.

PAULO COELHO

At the end of the day, you are solely responsible for your success and your failure. And the sooner you realize that, you accept that, and integrate that into your work ethic, you will start being successful.

ERIN CUMMINGS

A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.

ELBERT HUBBARD

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 (More Maya Angelou quotes)

Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.

NORMAN VINCENT PEALE

Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.

AMELIA EARHART

Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.

OG MANDINO

Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

J.K. ROWLING (More J.K. Rowling quotes)

When you believe in your dream and your vision, then it begins to attract its own resources. No one was born to be a failure.

MYLES MUNROE

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

SAMUEL BECKETT

Knock me down nine times but I get up ten

CARDI B

There can be no failure to a man who has not lost his courage, his character, his self-respect, or his self-confidence. He is still a King.

ORISON SWETT MARDEN

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

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

A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.

B. F. SKINNER

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.

NAPOLEON HILL

I thank God for my failures. Maybe not at the time but after some reflection. I never feel like a failure just because something I tried has failed.

DOLLY PARTON

Sticking to good habits can be hard work, and mistakes are part of the process. Don't declare failure. Instead, use your mistakes as opportunities to grow stronger and become better.

AMY MORIN

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

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.

MICHAEL JORDAN

We all learn lessons in life. Some stick, some don't. I have always learned more from rejection and failure than from acceptance and success.

HENRY ROLLINS

Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.

CHARLIE CHAPLIN

If you fall during your life, it doesn't matter. You're never a failure as long as you try to get up.

EVEL KNIEVEL

Everything you want is on the other side of fear.

JACK CANFIELD