Success and Failure

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, in Success and Failure and Work and Recreation

You see things and you say, "Why?" But I see things that never were; and I say, "Why not?"

George Bernard Shaw, Back to Methuselah, Part I, Act I (1921), in Success and Failure

To deny we need and want power is to deny that we hope to be effective.

Liz Smith, in Success and Failure

Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.

Benjamin Franklin, in Success and Failure and Work and Recreation

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked throughout the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, in Success and Failure

To accomplish great things, you must not only act but also dream, not only dream but also believe.

Anatole France, in Success and Failure

Whether you think that you can or that you can't, you are usually right.

Henry Ford, in Success and Failure

Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.

Henry Ford, in Success and Failure

All I ask of life is a constant and exaggerated sense of my own importance.

Unknown, in Life and Death and Success and Failure

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

An error is not a mistake until you refuse to correct it.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

Anthony's Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll into the least accessible corner of the workshop.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

DeVries' Dilemma: If you hit two keys on the typewriter, the one you don't want hits the paper.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

Anyone who uses the phrase "easy as taking candy from a baby" has never tried taking candy from a baby.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

Blessed are the meek for they shall inhibit the earth.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

Blessed are those who expect nothing... for they will not be disappointed.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

Boob's Law: You always find something in the last place you look.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle: You've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve.

Unknown, in Success and Failure

By doing just a little every day, you can gradually let the task completely overwhelm you.

Unknown, in Success and Failure