“Calamitous collapse is better than mediocre defeat!”
Quoted in The London Evening Standard (9 August 2001).
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Martin Firrell66
British artist and activist 1963Related quotes
“An honorable defeat is better than a dishonorable victory.”
Millard Fillmore (1800–1874) American politician, 13th President of the United States (in office from 1850 to 1853)
Speech http://books.google.com/books?id=Ihs8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA407&dq=honorable+defeat (13 September 1844), Buffalo, New York, quoted in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser (14 September 1844). Fillmore had lost the Whig nomination for governor of New York. The newspaper summary was: "He entreated them to enter the contest with zeal and enthusiasm; but as they valued the sacredness of their cause, and the stability of their principles, to resort to no unfair means: that an honorable defeat was better than a dishonorable victory." <br class="br">1840s
Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction …
Source: The Foundation series (1951–1993), Foundation’s Edge (1982), Chapter 19 “Decision” section 7, p. 404
“I spit on my life.
Death in battle would be better for me
than that I, defeated, survive.”
Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism
This statement is made in reference to his battle against the personification of temptation to evil, Mara.
Source: Pali Canon, Sutta Pitaka, Khuddaka Nikaya (Minor Collection), (Suttas falling down), Sutta 3.2. Padhana Sutta
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
Jeffrey Tucker (1963) American writer
Source: "Jack Kemp, American Socialist" by Jeffrey Tucker, The Rothbard-Rockwell Report, September 1996, UNZ.org, 2016-05-22 http://www.unz.org/Pub/RothbardRockwellReport-1996sep-00001,
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2015, Leaders' Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism speech (September 2015)
Wendell Phillips (1811–1884) American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator and lawyer
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