Failure Quotes – Celebrating my Failures of 2009

By Michael Fletcher On December 21, 2009 · 17 Comments

Heading into the end of the year I’m tempted to take stock of my failures in 2009 and start waving my finger at myself for all the things I’ve let slip during the year. All the failures punctuating the months from January to now. I’m reminded of all the doe-eyed dreams I had 12 months ago, and all the many goals I set myself at the beginning of the year. All those failures. I can’t help but smile. The year is however come and gone, no matter how long I wag my finger no matter how down I get this is the present I have inherited from myself, failures and all. In many respects 2009 has been, as my footballing friends would say, a rebuilding year for me. I’ve taken stock of myself and realized a number of things that I possibly wasn’t ready to last year or the year before. Where I am, that is where you’ll find me.

I think I’m going to tattoo that on my forehead this new year. I love the fact that I’ve reached a place in my life where my failures no longer define me. I am free of failure let the success roll in.

Famous Failures:

“My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet.” Mahatma Gandhi

Einstein was 4 years old before he could speak.
Iassc Newton did poorly in grade school and was considered “unpromising.”
When Thomas Edison was a youngster, his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything. He was counseled to go into a field where he might succeed by virtue of his pleasant personality.
F.W. Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21, but his boss would not permit him to wait on customers because he “didn’t have enough sense to close a sale.”
Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
Bob Cousy suffered the same fate, but he too is a Hall of Famer.
A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he “lacked imagination and had no original ideas.”
Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade and had to repeat it because he did not complete the tests that were required for promotion.
Babe Ruth struck out 1,300 times, a major league record.

Failure quotes:

Failure is an event, never a person. ~William D. Brown, Welcome Stress!
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. ~Thomas Edison
Try again. Fail again. Fail better. ~Samuel Beckett
One fails forward toward success. ~Charles F. Kettering
A man may fall many times, but he won’t be a failure until he says that someone pushed him. ~Elmer G. Letterman
A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in the experience. ~Elbert Hubbard
There is much to be said for failure. It is more interesting than success. ~Max Beerbohm,
Mainly on the Air, 1946
The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed. ~Lloyd Jones
If you’re doing your best, you won’t have any time to worry about failure. ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Image credit

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fireflythegreat/ / CC BY 2.0

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17 Responses to Failure Quotes – Celebrating my Failures of 2009

Michael Fletcher says:
December 21, 2009 at 11:02 am
Celebrating my Failures of 2009 – Forgiveness begins at home – http://bit.ly/600sv0 (via @mikezilla14)
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Remergence says:
December 21, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Failure Quotes – Celebrating my Failures of 2009 – http://bit.ly/600sv0 (via @mikezilla14)
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Tweets that mention Celebrating my Failures of 2009 - Forgiveness begins at home | Monetize Your Life -- Topsy.com says:
December 21, 2009 at 11:09 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Remergence, Michael fletcher. Michael fletcher said: Celebrating my Failures of 2009 – Forgiveness begins at home – http://bit.ly/600sv0 (via @mikezilla14) [...]
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Gordie says:
December 21, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I love posts that put lots of quotes on one area together. Nice and light reading for this holiday period. Thanks, Michael.
.-= Gordie´s last blog ..How To Use Goals, Autosuggestion, Commitment And Consistency. =-.
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- Michael Fletcher says:
  December 21, 2009 at 3:40 pm
  Thanks for popping by as always your comments are welcome. I too am a bit of sucker for quotations, I’m not going to tell you how long it took me to write this post, probably read 10 quotes for each one that ended up in here. Oh btw I’m not avoiding your mails, just having some problem with webmail at work will catch up with my outgoing correspondence when I get home in a few hours.
  Reply
Michael Fletcher says:
December 27, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Celebrating my Failures of 2009 – Failure quotes unite – http://bit.ly/600sv0 (via @mikezilla14)
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Michael Fletcher says:
December 27, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Celebrating my Failures of 2009 – Failure quotes unite – http://bit.ly/600sv0 (via @mikezilla14) #quotes
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Brandon Yeager says:
December 27, 2009 at 10:24 pm
RT @mikezilla14: Failure Quotes – Celebrating my Failures of 2009 http://bit.ly/600sv0
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TheInfoPreneur says:
December 28, 2009 at 12:24 am
This is an important post for a few different reasons. I’m a big fan of admiting your weaknesses, but more importantly turning that into a strength.
It’s important to recognise your weakness in order to work on them, but don’t use them as an excuse. My site is 8 weeks old and i’m doing it. I’m doing it with an IQ of 93 and no education!
Great post brother, well worth a re-tweet
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- Michael Fletcher says:
  December 28, 2009 at 3:13 pm
  Thanks a lot for the mention. The older I get the less excuses I have, nowadays when failure hits and I get the urge to quit I ask myself “if not now then when?” and all of a sudden the failure is dragged back into context. Life is exceedingly short if we don’t embrace the good with the bad we’re in for a really miserable ride.
  Reply
uberVU - social comments says:
December 28, 2009 at 11:50 am
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by RemBeatZ: Failure Quotes – Celebrating my Failures of 2009 – http://bit.ly/600sv0 (via @mikezilla14)…
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Blazing Minds Weekly Round Up – Twitter Websites, Wordpress 2.9, Muppets says:
January 3, 2010 at 11:37 am
[...] Failures of 2009, Failure quotes: Forgiveness begins at home – Monetize Your Life [...]
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Truman says:
January 6, 2010 at 7:07 am
I closed a business recently and these quotes made me re-think what my future holds. Thanks, you made my day
.-= Truman´s last blog ..Hitch A Ride On Rovos Rail =-.
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- Michael Fletcher says:
  January 7, 2010 at 1:57 am
  My pleasure I’m really glad you enjoyed it. Ulitmately we can’t control what happens to us only how we view it. Really sorry that you had to close a business, these setbacks are always painful but we don’t have to let these moments define us. Everything of the best for 2010 let’s make a point of failing forward this year!
  Reply
Marc Ashton says:
January 11, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Faiure is such a funny thing. For some it destroys their ability to try again, for others it makes them stronger.
For some – like me – it was actually the thing that opened the door which equipped me with a lot of new skills to network and rebuild. It forced me to walk away, add some skills and meet new people. 2 years later and I’m bouncing back.
Another quote from Michael Jordan:
“I can tolerate failure, I cannot tolerate not trying”
.-= Marc Ashton´s last blog ..10 TRENDS FOR 2010 – by Dion Chang =-.
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Just Keep Trying | What's It Take Blog says:
February 9, 2010 at 1:03 am
[...] Failure sucks these quotes don't (monetizeblog.info) LiveJournal Tags: Thomas Edison,Successs,Failure,Hope,Giants SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Just Keep Trying", url: "http://blog.whatsittake.com/2010/02/08/just-keep-trying/" }); [...]
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Thought For Today « Rubber Tyres –> Smooth Rides says:
March 23, 2010 at 5:18 pm
[...] Failure sucks these quotes don’t (monetizeblog.info) [...]
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