Seth Godin quote: “If failure is not an option, then neither is success.”

“When failure is not an option, success can be expensive.”

Peter Stibrany (1959) Canadian aerospace engineer

Conference paper https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264346445_The_Microsat_Way_in_Canada%5D Stibrany, P. and Carroll, K.A., "The Microsat Way in Canada," in Proc. ASTRO 2000 - 11th CASI Conference on Astronautics, Ottawa, Canada, 6-9 Nov. 2000.
The quote is a play on the title of Gene Kranz's autobiography, "Failure Is Not An Option". (See the Discussion page for further contextual information.)
The quote gained immediate currency within the MOST https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOST_(satellite) development team. It started to spread when one of the MOST team members, Henry Spencer (one of the fathers of the open-source movement, a well-known long-time contributor to the sci.space newsgroups, and also MOST's Software Architect) began using this quote as his Usenet newsgroups .sig ( this being one example https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/sci.space.history/Sl54b83g0jk%5B1-25%5D). The quote has gained wider currency since then, for example in this 2005 blog post by Rand Simberg. http://www.transterrestrial.com/archives/005132.html More recently, the quote has been stated numerous times by Chris Lewicki, the CEO of the asteroid mining company Planetary Resources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_Resources (e.g., here https://singularityhub.com/2017/08/17/space-startups-see-a-future-when-millions-of-people-live-and-work-in-space/?utm_content=buffer52ee3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter-su&utm_campaign=buffer), as well as by that company's Chairman, Peter Diamandis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_diamandis (e.g., here http://www.diamandis.com/blog/entrepreneurs-not-government-drive-innovation-heres-why), with others subsequently requoting them, such as here http://www.diamandis.com/blog/entrepreneurs-not-government-drive-innovation-heres-why and here http://vladdit.com/exponential-wisdom-episode-15-notes-driving-innovation/.

“Failure is not an option.”

Gene Kranz (1933) NASA Flight Director and manager

Statement attributed to him in the film Apollo 13 (1995), which he had not actually used in that crisis. He later used the phrase as the title of his autobiography.
Misattributed

“But failure has to be an option.”

James Cameron (1954) Canadian film director

Address http://www.ted.com/talks/james_cameron_before_avatar_a_curious_boy.html/ to the 2010 TED conference (13 February 2010)
Context: Imagination is a force that can actually manifest a reality. … Don’t put limitations on yourself. Other people will do that for you. Don’t do that to yourself. Don’t bet against yourself. And take risk. NASA has this phrase that they like, "Failure is not an option." But failure has to be an option. In art and exploration, failure has to be an option. Because it is a leap of faith. And no important endeavour that required innovation was done without risk. You have to be willing to take those risks. … In whatever you are doing, failure is an option. But fear is not.

“There may not always be a way where there's a will, but on the other hand - if success isn't certain, neither is failure. **The Rules of Chaos (1969), p. 87”

Stephen Vizinczey (1933) Hungarian-Canadian writer

“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

“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”

Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American writer and lecturer

“The key to success is failure”

Michael Jordan (1963) American retired professional basketball player and businessman

“success is 99% failure”

Henry Ford (1863–1947) American industrialist

“Failure is success in progress”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

“You have to be willing to take those risks. … In whatever you are doing, failure is an option. But fear is not.”

James Cameron (1954) Canadian film director

Address http://www.ted.com/talks/james_cameron_before_avatar_a_curious_boy.html/ to the 2010 TED conference (13 February 2010)
Context: Imagination is a force that can actually manifest a reality. … Don’t put limitations on yourself. Other people will do that for you. Don’t do that to yourself. Don’t bet against yourself. And take risk. NASA has this phrase that they like, "Failure is not an option." But failure has to be an option. In art and exploration, failure has to be an option. Because it is a leap of faith. And no important endeavour that required innovation was done without risk. You have to be willing to take those risks. … In whatever you are doing, failure is an option. But fear is not.

“If failure is not an option, then neither is success.”

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