“People do not care whether or not they succeed; they care about whether or not they fail.”

Personality Lectures

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 6, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "People do not care whether or not they succeed; they care about whether or not they fail." by Jordan Peterson?

Jordan Peterson202

Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and profes… 1962

Related quotes

“Care not for time and success. Act out thy part, whether it be to fail or to prosper.”

Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet

Thoughts and Aphorisms (1913), Karma

“There are two classes, those who want to know and do not care whether others think they know or not, and those who do not much care about knowing but care very greatly about being reputed as knowing.”

Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist

Scientists
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIV - Higgledy-Piggledy

“It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not.”

Jean de La Bruyère book Les Caractères

S'il est heureux d'avoir de la naissance, il ne l'est pas moins d'être tel qu'on ne s'informe plus si vous en avez.
Aphorism 21
Les Caractères (1688), Du mérite personnel

“Water does not care whether you bathe in it or drown in it. The mountains do not care whether you climb them or go around them. The stars do not care whether man reaches them or not. The universe does not care whether man masters all the relationships of its forces and processes, or dies because he refuses to master them. Life continues as it uses those relationships to further its growth. It ceases when it becomes overcome by still other forces which it cannot master.”

Mark Clifton book They'd Rather Be Right

Source: They'd Rather Be Right (1954), p. 188.