“…we like somebody who succeeds with such bad conscience, and who seems to wish that he had the nerve to be a failure or, better still, something to which the terms success and failure don’t apply—as when Mallory said, about Everest: “Success is meaningless here.””

—  Randall Jarrell

“ ‘Very Graceful Are the Uses of Culture’ ”, p. 206
Kipling, Auden & Co: Essays and Reviews 1935-1964 (1980)

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 "…we like somebody who succeeds with such bad conscience, and who seems to wish that he had the nerve to be a failure or…" by Randall Jarrell?
Randall Jarrell photo
Randall Jarrell 215
poet, critic, novelist, essayist 1914–1965

Related quotes

Brandon Sanderson photo

“Better to be the failure who nobly strived than the success who never really had to.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: Firstborn

Bob Dylan photo

“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

Theodore Dalrymple photo

“In the British public service nothing succeeds like failure: indeed, failure is success, if looked on in the right way, namely as something requiring yet further intervention in people's lives to amend.”

Theodore Dalrymple (1949) English doctor and writer

Mr Brown's self-esteem issue - or, asks Theodore Dalrymple, does Gordon Brown really believe that he can solve the problems of the world.
Source: The Social Affairs Unit (2006 - 2008)

Robert T. Kiyosaki photo

“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki book Rich Dad Poor Dad

Source: Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Vikram Sarabhai photo

“He said that failures compos us more as compared to successes.”

Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971) (1919-1971), Indian physicist

About, Pride Of The Nation: Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

“Modest successes are better known as failures.”

Frederic Raphael (1931) British writer

Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies (2001 ed.): Art. "Frederic Raphael", p. 363

Robert T. Kiyosaki photo

“People who avoid failure also avoid success.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki (1947) American finance author , investor

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

Regina E. Dugan photo

“You can't lose your nerve for the big failure because you need exactly the same nerve for the big success.”

Regina E. Dugan (1963) American businesswoman, inventor, and technology developer

Fast Company interview (2011)

Saul D. Alinsky photo

“The seventh rule of the ethics of means and ends is that generally success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics. The judgment of history leans heavily on the outcome of success or failure; it spells the difference between the traitor and the patriotic hero. There can be no such thing as a successful traitor, for if one succeeds he becomes a founding father.”

Saul D. Alinsky (1909–1972) American community organizer and writer

Source: Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals (1971), p. 34

Related topics