“The more congenial page of some tenth-rate poeticule worn out with failure after failure and now squat in his hole like the tailless fox, he is curled up to snarl and whimper beneath the inaccessible vine of song.”

— Algernon Charles Swinburne

Under the Microscope (1872)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The more congenial page of some tenth-rate poeticule worn out with failure after failure and now squat in his hole like…" by Algernon Charles Swinburne?

Algernon Charles Swinburne photo

Algernon Charles Swinburne87

English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic 1837–1909

Related quotes

“I am looking for the holes,
The holes in your jeans
Because I want to know:
Are they worn out in the seat,
Or are they worn out in the knees?”

Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist

Looking for the Holes
Song lyrics

“…One of the things I have discovered is, in Washington, D. C. most people understand the consequences of failure. And if failure is not an option, then it's up to the president to come up with a plan that is more likely to succeed.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

Speech to the House Republican Conference http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070126-3.html (January 26, 2007) <br class="br">2000s, 2007

“The secret of success is to triple your rate of failure.”

Og Mandino (1923–1996) American author

“If you want to double your success rate, triple your failure rate.”

Cory Doctorow book Pirate Cinema

Pirate Cinema
Variant: you want to double your success rate, triple your failure rate.

“If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.”

Thomas Watson, Jr. (1914–1993) American businessman and diplomat

“If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.”

Tom Watson (1874–1956) American businessman

Attributed to Watson in: Roger von Oech (1982), A Whack on the Side of the Head and Industrial participation (1987) Nr 594-603. p. 262.

“The sports page records people's accomplishments, the front page usually records nothing, but man's failures.”

Barbara Walters (1929) American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality

Occasionally attributed to Walters; actually said by Earl Warren, as quoted in Sports Illustrated (July 22, 1968).
Misattributed

“With a sudden sharp hot stink of fox,
It enters the dark hole of the head.
The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
The page is printed.”

Ted Hughes book The Hawk in the Rain

"The Thought-Fox", line 21
The Hawk in the Rain (1957)

“Every moment of every day and night he was able to take the measure of his failure now. Even his family's poverty which for years he had refused to admit, began to grow familiar to him, but like the memory of a companion that one has left behind. Rose-Anna…She'd been a young girl at his side, then tired, then overwhelmed, and here she was sleeping beside him on a kind of pallet, on the floor. He could hear the whimpers from the children in their sleep.”

Gabrielle Roy book The Tin Flute

Source: The Tin Flute (1945), P. 281-282

“There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Song lyrics, Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Related topics