Quotes about fail
page 6

“When you fear to fail, you fear something that has not happened yet. You predict your own failure, and by inaction, lock yourself into it.”

Robin Hobb book Ship of Destiny

Source: Ship of Destiny

Fear, Failure

“Just because you fail once doesn't mean you're gonna fail at everything.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Heartbreaking, Inspirational, Courageous, love

“Many invest wisely in business matters, but fail to invest time and interest in their most valued possessions: their spouses and children.”

Billy Graham (1918–2018) American Christian evangelist

Source: Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well

Children, Business, Time

“Who has not found the Heaven — below —
Will fail of it above”

Emily Dickinson Who has not found the Heaven — below —

1544: Who has not found the Heaven — below —
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson (1960)
Source: The Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

“He threw in the towel before we were tested. Maybe because he didn't want to be tested. Maybe because he assumed we would fail. Maybe because, at the time, he just didn't love me enough.”

Emily Giffin (1972) American writer

Source: Love the One You're With

Love, Time

“The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

Children, Faith, Lovers, Light

“It never failed to amaze me how the most ordinary day could be catapulted into the extraordinary in the blink of an eye.”

Jodi Picoult book Handle With Care

Source: Handle with Care

“Doubtless the lunatic asylums of the world are filled with unfortunate women who have failed to see my charms.”

Cassandra Clare The City of Lost Souls

Source: City of Lost Souls

Women, World

“I will not fail,' the water bearer's daughter vowed. 'But worse than failing is not to try at all. For then there can be no hope of success.”

Cameron Dokey (1956) American writer

Source: The Storyteller's Daughter: A Retelling of the Arabian Nights

Hope, Water, Success, Daughters

“You like him because he's a lost boy. Believe me, I've seen it happen before. But do you know what happens to girls who love lost boys? They become lost themselves. Without fail.”

David Levithan book Every Day

Source: Every Day

Love, Girl, Boy

“A Gallagher Girl's real grades don’t come in pass or fail—they're measured in life or death.”

Ally Carter Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Source: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Life, Death, Girl

“Clark," she said softly, "I wouldn't change you for the world.
You're sweet the way you are. The things that'll make you fail
I'll love always-- the living in the past, the lazy days and
nights you have, and all your carelessness and generosity.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book The Ice Palace

Source: The Ice Palace

Love, World, Way, Change

“Your friends will notice at once that glib vacuities fail to impress, and hate you, and tell lies about you. It's worth it.”

Aleister Crowley book Magick Without Tears

Source: Magick Without Tears

Hate

“Nobodys life ever goes according to plan.
So why do we keep on planning?
Because that's how we know who we are. By what we intend to be. By what we try to become.
And fail.
I don't say 'fail'. I saw we aim and miss. But we still hit something.”

Orson Scott Card Treasure Box

Source: Treasure Box

Life

“If you fail to pilot your own ship, don't be surprised at what inappropiate port you find yourself docked.”

Tom Robbins book Jitterbug Perfume

Source: Jitterbug Perfume (1984)

“There is a time in every life when paths are chosen, character is forged. I could have chosen a different path. But I didn’t. I failed myself.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

Life, Time

“every relationship you are in will fail, until one doesn't”

Dan Savage (1964) American sex advice columnist and gay rights campaigner

“I go to my Room and I drink and I smoke some cigarettes and I think about her. I drink and I smoke and I think about her and at a certain point blackness comes and my memory fails me.”

James Frey book A Million Little Pieces

Source: A Million Little Pieces

Drink, Thinking, Memory

“The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice there is little we can do to change until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds.”

Daniel Goleman (1946) American psychologist & journalist

Thinking, Change

“Does it hurt?”
He bent his head and lightly kissed her forehead. “Only when I laugh.”
“I’ll try not to be funny.”
“Epic fail, beautiful.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: Last Breath

Beauty, Kiss, Hurt

“Yes, I'm alive," Mat said. "I'm usually pretty good at staying alive. I've only failed one time that I can remember, and it hardly counts.”

Robert Jordan The Wheel of Time

Source: A Memory of Light

Time

“I'd rather look a fool than be right and fail to act.”

Terry Goodkind book Soul of the Fire

Source: Soul of the Fire

Fools

“The human eye is a wonderful device. With a little effort, it can fail to see even the most glaring injustice.”

Richard K. Morgan book Altered Carbon

Source: Altered Carbon (2002), Chapter 23 (p. 300)
Context: “The human eye is a wonderful device,” I quoted from Poems and Other Prevarications absently. “With a little effort, it can fail to see even the most glaring injustice.”

Effort

“They never fail who die
In a great cause.”

George Gordon Byron (1788–1824) English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement

Marino Faliero, Act II, Scene 2, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

“It is time that we admitted that faith is nothing more than the license religious people give one another to keep believing when reasons fail.”

Sam Harris Letter to a Christian Nation

Source: Letter to a Christian Nation

People, Faith, Time

“Failing isn't bad when you learn what not to do.”

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

Learning

“Now take my hand and hold it tight.
I will not fail you here tonight,
For failing you, I fail myself
And place my soul upon a shelf
In Hell's library without light.
I will not fail you here tonight.”

Dean Koontz (1945) American author

Source: The Book Of Counted Sorrows

Soul, Hell, Light

“If you're ever in doubt, throw a pepper in the air. If it fails to come down, you have gone mad, so don't trust in anything.”

Gregory Maguire (1954) Novelist

Source: Mirror Mirror

Madness

“When all else fails, philosophize.”

J.M. Coetzee book Disgrace

Source: Disgrace

“His air of failure had nothing desperate about it; rather, it seemed to stem from an unresented realisation that he was not cut out for success, and his duty was therefore to ensure only that he failed in the correct and acceptable fashion.”

Julian Barnes book Flaubert's Parrot

Source: Flaubert's Parrot

Fashion, Failure, Success

“A surprise trigonometry quiz that everyone in class fails? Must be in the Lord’s plan to give us challenges.”

Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember

Source: A Walk to Remember

“If a man does not work passionately - even furiously - at being the best in the world at what he does, he fails his talent, his destiny, and his God.”

George Lois (1931) American art director, designer and author

God, World, Passion

“They were like two pieces of a failed star, drawn together by a shared history and a memory of illicit kisses.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Crimson Crown

History, Star, Kiss, Memory

“But Catherine did not know her own advantages - did not know that a good-looking girl, with an affectionate heart and a very ignorant mind, cannot fail of attracting a clever young man, unless circumstances are particularly untoward.”

Jane Austen book Northanger Abbey

Source: Northanger Abbey

Girl, Heart

“Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession - their ignorance.”

Hendrik Willem van Loon (1882–1944) Dutch-American historian, journalist and author

“Sure, in a ninja's world, those who violate the rules and fail to follow orders… are lower than garbage. However… those who do not care for and support their fellows… are even lower than that!" - Obito Uchiha”

Masashi Kishimoto book Naruto

Source: Naruto, Vol. 27: Departure

World, Support

“Everyone wants a prodigy to fail; it makes our mediocrity more bearable.”

Harold Bloom (1930–2019) American literary critic and scholar

“Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer--both in waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams.”

Bram Stoker book Dracula

Source: Dracula

Dreams, Sleep, Suffering, Heart

“Though I was standing in front of a mirror, I wasn't really seeing my reflection. I was seeing, very clearly, that—at the moment—I was all in the world that Eric could think of as his own. I had better not fail him.”

Charlaine Harris book Dead to the World

Source: Dead to the World

World, Thinking

“You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is 'never try.'

Homer Simpson”

Matt Groening (1954) American cartoonist

Funny

“Some editors are failed writers, but so are most writers.”

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author

“This is what those who haven’t crossed the tropic of grief often fail to understand: the fact that someone is dead may mean that they are not alive, but doesn’t mean that they do not exist.”

Julian Barnes (1946) English writer

Source: Levels of Life

Understanding, Dead

“It was bewildering and humbling to keep discovering how many brave things people can fail to talk themselves out of doing.”

Rob Sheffield (1966) American music journalist

Source: Love Is a Mix Tape

People

“Proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you have always known.”

Frank Herbert book Dune

Source: Dune

“it takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and succeded.”

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) American aviator and author

Courage

“nothing can save
you
except
writing.
it keeps the walls
from
failing.”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

“It always disappointed me when mortals put themselves first and failed to see the big picture—the importance of putting me first”

Rick Riordan book The Hidden Oracle

Source: The Hidden Oracle

Disappointment

“The sorrow of God lies in our fear of Him, our fear of life, and our fear of ourselves. He anguishes over our self-absorption and self-sufficiency… God's sorrow lies in our refusal to approach Him when we sinned and failed.”

Brennan Manning (1934–2013) writer, American Roman Catholic priest and United States Marine

Source: Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Life, God, Fear

“A proud heart can survive general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone.”

Chinua Achebe book Things Fall Apart

Source: Things Fall Apart (1958), Chapter 3 (p. 27)

Motivational, Back To Work, Failure, Heart

“I don't like lies," said Bran, and I knew I'd failed to keep the pain of his revelation from my face. "Not even lies of omission. Hard truths can be dealt with, triumphed over, but lies will destroy your soul.”

Patricia Briggs book Moon Called

Source: Moon Called

Pain, Truth, Soul

“Failing to plan is planning to fail”

Alan Lakein (1973) American writer

“I always speak the truth. Not the whole truth, because there's no way, to say it all. Saying it all is literally impossible: words fail. Yet it's through this very impossibility that the truth holds onto the real.”

Jacques Lacan (1901–1981) French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist

Truth, Way

“When the Dead do walk, seek water’s run,
For this the Dead will always shun.
Swift river’s best or broadest lake
To ward the Dead and haven make.
If water fails thee, fire’s thy friend;
If neither guards, it will be thy end.”

Garth Nix book Abhorsen

Source: Old Kingdom series (The Abhorsen Trilogy), Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr (2001), pp. 359-360.

Water, Dead

“There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God… These people fail to realize that it is on the inside that God must be defended, not on the outside.”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi

God, People

“It never fails. God will put people in your path that irritate you, especially if you're prone to be irritated.”

Rich Mullins (1955–1997) American christian musician

God, People

“One needs no particular talent to be polite. On the contrary, being nice is what's left when you've failed at everything else.”

Diane Setterfield book The Thirteenth Tale

Source: The Thirteenth Tale

“forgive yourself for what you aren't able to do,
the ones who aren't able to acknowledge their ownselves are bound to fail”

Masashi Kishimoto book Naruto

Source: Naruto, Vol. 61: Uchiha Brothers United Front

Forgiveness

“In the end what matters is not how good we are but how good God is. Not how much we love Him but how much He loves us. And God loves us whoever we are, whatever we’ve done or failed to do, whatever we believe or can’t.”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

Love, God

“For most of us the problem isn’t that we aim too high and fail - it’s just the opposite - we aim too low and succeed.”

Ken Robinson (1950) UK writer

Source: The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

Problem, Motivational

“If any organism fails to fulfill its potentialities, it becomes sick.”

William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist

“Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Courageous, Leadership, Graduation, Motivational

“Give me an opportunity to fail," Saiman said. "I promise my corpse won't interrupt your 'I told you so' speech.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Strikes

“In my dream, the angel shrugged and said, if we fail this time, it will be a failure of imagination

and then she placed the world gently in the palm of my hand.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

World, Dreams, Angels, Imagination

“It’s a lifelong failing: she has never been prepared. But how can you have a sense of wonder if you’re prepared for everything? Prepared for the sunset. Prepared for the moonrise. Prepared for the ice storm. What a flat existence that would be.”

Margaret Atwood book Stone Mattress: Nine Tales

Source: Stone Mattress: Nine Tales

Sense

“What I've learned is that there is nothing in this life that does not fail to disappoint us, even our own deaths.”

Joe Meno book The Boy Detective Fails

Source: The Boy Detective Fails

Life, Death, Disappointment, Learning

“If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all.”

Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American writer

Life, Way

“Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

For Team, People, Thinking, Time

“The dark scary servant of all evil was on his way to rescue me. Somehow that thought failed to make me warm and fuzzy.”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Gunmetal Magic

Way, Evil

“God's love for me is perfect because it's based on Him not on me. So even when I failed He kept loving me.”

Joyce Meyer (1943) American author and speaker

Source: Beauty for Ashes: Receiving Emotional Healing

Love, God, Perfection

“The grandiose person is never really free; first because he is excessively dependent on admiration from others, and second, because his self-respect is dependent on qualities, functions, and achievements that can suddenly fail.”

Alice Miller (1923–2010) Swiss psychologist

Source: The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self

Dependency, Personality

“A prisoner of war is a man who tries to kill you and fails, and then asks you not to kill him.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

War

“He tried to name which of the deadly seven might apply, and when he failed he decided to append an eighth, regret.”

Charles Frazier book Cold Mountain

Source: Cold Mountain

“She was bored. She loved, had capacity to love, for love, to give and accept love. Only she tried twice and failed twice to find somebody not just strong enough to deserve it, earn it, match it, but even brave enough to accept it.”

William Faulkner book The Town

Source: The Town

Love, Strong

“Oh for God's sake,' Heather said, 'I wish you two would just go out, fail miserably as a couple, and get it over with.”

Sarah Dessen book What Happened to Goodbye

Source: What Happened to Goodbye

God

“But a man who has lived by truth—and you have believed in what he has lived—he does not leave you merely wary when he fails you, he leaves you with nothing. I think that is why I’m nearly out of my mind.”

Harper Lee book Go Set a Watchman

Source: Go Set a Watchman

Truth, Thinking

“Where subtlety fails us we must simply make do with cream pies.”

David Brin book The Uplift War

Source: The Uplift War

“When you're unhinged, things make their way out of you that should be kept inside, and other things get in that ought to be shut out. The locks lose their powers. The guards go to sleep. The passwords fail.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: The Blind Assassin

Way, Sleep

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails.”

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist

“No one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich.”

Malcolm Gladwell (1963) journalist and science writer

Source: Outliers: The Story of Success

Family

“…I realized that once people are broken in certain ways they can't ever be fixed, and this is something nobody ever tells you when you are young and it never fails to surprise you as you grow older as you see the people in your life break one by one.”

Douglas Coupland book Life After God

Source: Life After God (1994)

Life, People, Way

“Children might or might not be a blessing, but to create them and then fail them was surely damnation.”

Lois McMaster Bujold Vorkosigan Saga

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar (1991)

Children

“I wasn’t a fabulous cook. I didn’t have a boyfriend, much less a husband. And I wasn’t a big financial success. I could live with all those failings as long as I knew that once in a while I looked really hot.”

Janet Evanovich High Five

Source: High Five

Success, Cooking

“I failed angst in high school. They let me graduate anyway.”

John Scalzi (1969) American science fiction writer

Source: Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008

School

“You didn't fail. You just opted out. There's a difference.”

Sarah Dessen book Along for the Ride

Source: Along for the Ride

“Hestia shook her head. "I am here because when all else fails, when all the other mighty gods have gone off to war, I am all that's left. Home. Hearth. I am the last Olympian”

Rick Riordan book The Last Olympian

Source: The Last Olympian

God, War, Home

“I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest.”

John Keats (1795–1821) English Romantic poet

Letter to James Hessey (October 9, 1818)
Letters (1817–1820)
Context: I have written independently without Judgment. I may write independently, and with Judgment, hereafter. The Genius of Poetry must work out its own salvation in a man: It cannot be matured by law and precept, but by sensation and watchfulness in itself — That which is creative must create itself — In Endymion, I leaped headlong into the sea, and thereby have become better acquainted with the Soundings, the quicksands, and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a, silly pipe, and took tea and comfortable advice. I was never afraid of failure; for I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest.

Failure

“We can get you a throne with snakes. I’ll stand next to you and roar at anybody who fails to grovel. Fear Kate Daniels. She is a mighty and terrible ruler. Grendel can anoint the petitioners with his vomit. It’ll be great…”

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Breaks

Fear