“Be not dismayed by a defeat. What is defeat! Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better.”

— Wendell Phillips

No record of this specific remark exists prior to its use by a George W. Phillips, in an address to the fifth annual convention of the National Association of Life Underwriters (June 1894), reported in The Chronicle: A Weekly Journal, Devoted to the Interests of Insurance Vol. LIII (1894), p. 336 https://books.google.com/books?id=xoAoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA335&dq=%22What+is+defeat?+Nothing+but+education.+Nothing+but+the+first+step+to+something+better.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiFiMan5KveAhWl6YMKHYV6C44Q6AEIdTAO#v=onepage&q=%22What%20is%20defeat%3F%20Nothing%20but%20education.%20Nothing%20but%20the%20first%20step%20to%20something%20better.%22&f=false <br class="br">Misattributed

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 "Be not dismayed by a defeat. What is defeat! Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better." by Wendell Phillips?

Wendell Phillips23

American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orato… 1811–1884

Related quotes

“If they know nothing of victory, they are at least spared the knowledge of defeat.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“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 (1933) American writer

“It could be worse,' Passini said respectfully. "There is nothing worse than war."
Defeat is worse."
I do not believe it," Passini said still respectfully. "What is defeat? You go home.”

Ernest Hemingway book A Farewell to Arms

Source: A Farewell to Arms

“In formal logic, a contradiction is the signal of a defeat; but in the evolution of real knowledge it marks the first step in progress towards victory.”

Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English mathematician and philosopher

1920s, Science and the Modern World (1925)

“It might be that to surrender to happiness was to accept defeat, but it was a defeat better than many victories.”

W. Somerset Maugham book Of Human Bondage

Source: Of Human Bondage (1915), Ch. 122

“The true Way of sword fencing is the craft of defeating the enemy in a fight, and nothing other than this.”

Miyamoto Musashi (1584–1645) Japanese martial artist, writer, artist

Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Fire Book

“Ideologies are not defeated with guns, they’re defeated by better ideas -- a more attractive and compelling vision.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2015, Leaders' Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism speech (September 2015)

“Nothing can hurt you except sin; nothing can grieve me except sin; nothing can defeat you except sin. Therefore, be on your guard, my Mansoul.”

John Bunyan book The Holy War

Source: The Holy War

“I was at Stalingrad, you know… And from that time onwards I have done nothing but manoeuvre to escape encirclement by the enemy: retreat on retreat, defeat upon defeat. And here I am in marvellous Paris. What do you think is going to happen now?”

Dietrich von Choltitz (1894–1966) German general

To Raoul Nordling <br class="br">Dallas, Gregor (2006). 1945: The War That Never Ended https://books.google.pl/books?id=PTEV0CPuhRcC&pg=PA173&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiUp-aI4dTfAhWKw4sKHYBJDg8Q6AEILDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 178. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300119886

“There is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

As quoted in Honor Your Gifts (2007) by Dona M. Deane, p. 199.
Variant: But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for

“Be not dismayed by a defeat. What is defeat! Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Wendell Phillips23

Related quotes

Related topics