Down but not out: quotes on failure that turn your day around

Failure need not beget failure. If taken in the right measure it can provide a fresh dose of insight, inspiration and a sense of self. Most role models or icons dealt with the precipice of failure first before they marched on the path of success. Here are eighteen thought-provoking quotes on failure that will help you see the grass on your side as greener.

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"Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement."

                          - C.S. Lewis British author 

"Giving up is the only sure way to fail." 

                          - Gena Showalter | American author

"If you don’t try at anything, you can’t fail… it takes backbone to lead the life you want."

                          - Richard Yates | American author 

"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original."

                          - Ken Robinson | British author

"Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be."

                          - John Wooden | American basketball player

"Everything you want is on the other side of fear."

                           -Jack Canfield | American writer

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."

                           - Henry Ford | Businessman

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."

                           - Robert F. Kennedy | American politician

"It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure."

                           - Bill Gates | Businessman

"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 | Stand-up comedian

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

                           - Thomas A. Edison | Inventor 

"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 | Motivational speaker

"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 | American singer

"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure."

                          - Paulo Coelho | Author

"We are all failures - at least the best of us are." 

                          - J.M. Barrie | British author

Failure can be a way forward in life. It does not need to be an anchor around your feet or a noose around your neck. Every form of failure, whether it’s physical, emotional or psychological when treated with knowledge and care and without deception or misinformation, can create a stairway to a place where possibilities shine brightly as the sun.