10 Inspiring Quotes about Failure, Meaning and motivation

Inspiring Quotes about Failure: This article is a collection of quotes talking about the meaning of failure. Failure is hard, but the worst part of failure is the meaning we associate to it. Failure can also mean feedback, opportunity to move forward in life. In this article, we will talk about some of these inspiring quotes on failure that help us look at our opportunities and challenges differently.

One thing to remember while discussing these inspiring quotes about failure is that there is no success without failure and no failure without success.

Meaning of failure

We’re at a stage where we need to discuss the inspiring quotes on failure because of the negative connotation associated to failure. Failures hurt, but that’s only because we misunderstand failure. So what does failure mean? According to the dictionary – Failure simply means insufficiency, not being able to do something. It is only us that give reasons for failure. Sometimes these meanings are so bad that they make us feel guilty and inadequate too.

The problem is, most times people link failure to your capabilities and intellect. Naturally, this leads to hurting your ego and the entire belief system when things don’t work. The best way to deal with a failure is by treating it dispassionately and objectively.

Inspiring Quotes about Failure

Failures can be inspiring. The most valuable part of failure is that it gives us a lesson. Another school of thought tells us to fail fast and cheap so that we can keep moving forward. If we find out the ways things don’t work, maybe it will help us find out the best ways to move forward and avoid some known mistakes. Please find below some inspiring quotes about failure.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts – Winston Churchill

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly – Robert F. Kennedy

Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor – Truman Capote

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something, But I can’t accept not trying – Michael Jordan

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing- Henry Ford

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently – Henry Ford

Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm- Winston S. Churchill

Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something – Morihei Ueshiba

Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street- Zig Ziglar

Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes its built on catastrophe – Sumner Redstone

Inspiring quotes about failure

We have heard most of these quotes, but an explanation of some of my favorites follow in this article. The main thing to remember from these quotes is that they are subjective to our situation. They certainly fill us with inspiration, but we ought to make sure that we take it with a pinch of salt to make sense of these quotes on failure.

Failure Quotes about impacting our confidence

Although failure is just an event, it is the things associated with it that bothers us the most. The problem is when failures slowly crawl into questioning your beliefs on abilities, strength and confidence. I’ve been guilty of asking the question – Why me and taking a guilt trip which usually led me nowhere. And if it affects your confidence, building your self-confidence after a failure takes active work.

To figure out the meaning of failure, step away from the situation and treat it objectively. If possible, look at it from the point of view of a third person – as if you are watching a movie. Here are a few inspiring failure quotes on how it impacts our confidence:

1. “Failure destroys confidence only if you let it. Use setbacks as stepping stones to rise even stronger.” – Unknown
2. “Failure doesn’t define you; it refines you. Embrace it, and your confidence will soar.” – Tony Robbins
3. “When failure shakes your confidence, remember that every great success story has chapters of setbacks.” – Karen Salmansohn
4. “Failure may rattle your confidence temporarily, but resilience and determination will rebuild it stronger than before.” – Steve Maraboli
5. “Confidence grows not in the absence of failure, but in the ability to rise each time failure knocks you down.” – Zig Ziglar

Using failure and feedback to learn and succeed

Apart from the hurt, failure is quite productive. After all, a failure is nothing but a message or signal that something isn’t working out. It is asking you to change an approach so that you can get back on your success journey. Unfortunately, the media often talks about the negative effects of failure. It is treated as something to be kept in the dark, a taboo and as a hurtful creature. Step outside of this trap for a minute. The meaning of failure is in its outcome and dispassionate messages. Key advantages of failure are:

• A real reflection of a situation – no lies, but a brutally honest truth
• A clear message about what doesn’t work. It can be your approach, beliefs or resources.
• It makes you cautious and thoughtful about your strategy and approach
• Keeps your overconfidence in check

On the flip side, sometimes failure is known to destroy confidence. Building confidence cannot occur without these failures. It is just how you make use of these failures to succeed. While on this subject, I’d like to highlight these quotes that talk about learning from failure:

1. “Failure is the tuition you pay for success.” – Walter Brunell
2. “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.” – Henry Ford
3. “Don’t fear failure. Embrace it, learn from it, and let it propel you towards greater success.” – Unknown
4. “Failure is an opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
5. “Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe.” – Sumner Redstone

Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up – Robert Schuller

The first thing about failure is in knowing that it is normal. I circle back to our earlier conversation about the meaning of failure – it is not out there to haunt you and make you feel horrible. It is just an event.

A failure is to be treated as an outcome, a result instead of demonising it. Most importantly, failure is nothing but feedback. If you want to succeed, constantly look for signals about things that are going wrong. Separate the noise from feedback and instead of asking the question – should I continue or not. Ask instead, what can I change, how can I make my approach better? You have a better chance of success in this approach.

Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up

– Robert Schuller

The only true failure is when you stop trying – Inspiring quotes about failure

Failure, success and perseverance go hand in hand. They will be your companions in whichever journey you decide to take. Instead of being surprised by them, welcome these events.

Don’t stop trying just because things don’t work out. They often don’t. You will discover mistakes in your approach. Instead of worrying about these, make these mistakes faster. These mistakes give you valuable insight into getting closer to your dreams. These inspiring quotes about failure are not compiled to make anyone feel better. The purpose of this post is to only drive the message and understand the meaning of failure.

“You try you fail,
You try you fail,
But the only true failure,
Is when you stop trying”

Haunted Mansion

You learn more from failure than success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character – Unknown

I’m sure you’ve heard this before. Failure builds character. The annoying thing about building character is that it hurts. However, your journey to success is based on moving from one step to another.

Sometimes these steps are failures and some other times smaller successes. Objectively looking at it, you cannot discriminate – with failures you learn and with successes, you gain valuable motivation to proceed. Both of these outcomes are here to support you. Yes, failures help you to get stronger and closer to your goals.

Equally, successes push you ahead, closer to your dreams. Neither of these is harmful or bad, you can’t let either failure or successes stop you when the goal is about being more capable of achieving your dreams.

You learn more from failure than success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character

Unknown

Success means going from one failure to another without loss of enthusiasm – Winston Churchill on inspiration from failure

I like the connection between success and enthusiasm in this quote. In the collection of Winston Churchill quotes, we talk about his other references to success and failure.

The flip side of failures is that they hurt and make us feel bad. The simplest reason is – because we are committed to our goals and the final result. As much as it hurts, you’ve got to pick yourself up and move on. The only way ahead is by moving forward. You cannot go back and change your actions.

However, you can use everything you’ve learned through the process and begin again from failure intelligently. Don’t let failures go to waste when they can create a massive difference in getting you close to your success.

I’ve failed over and over again in my life and that is why I have succeeded – Michael Jordan

Another quote which I’m sure you’ve heard of. In this section of inspiring quotes about failure, I’d like to point out the normalcy of these events. Most of the quotes we’ve talked about so far tell you how common failure is.

The only reason we associate a deep meaning with failure is that it is personal to us. It is important to make a distinction between failure as an event and a personal message. As we highlighted earlier, a failure is only a message, feedback asking you to change something. Focus on how you can make things better instead of feeling sorry. Everyone who’s achieved something worthwhile has gone through their own journey of failures to reach the top.

The only failure is when you say – “I Give Up”

The only final failure is when you give up your efforts. There’s no mistake in giving up your efforts. But before giving up, ask yourself what the dream is. Maybe this goal doesn’t make sense anymore which is a perfectly valid reason to give up.

If it is feeling too hard, make sure that you ask yourself the hard questions. Are you quitting because you’re tired of feeling exhausted? No matter what the reasons are, make sure that you don’t lie to yourself. It isn’t easy to accept the brutality of truth and an outcome. But that’s the quickest way to move on from either a failure or any event.

It is fine to fail and even to give up. But these decisions must be made on your own accord rather than an external event forcing you to do so.

A failure is an event, not a person!

This quote goes back to the meaning of failure. As highlighted earlier, failure is just an event, an outcome. It is not a favourable one, surely. But it still is an event.

One of the most important things is to separate failure from a person and look at it objectively. This means preventing questions such as

• Why does it happen to me?
• What’s wrong with me?

And any other questions in similar lines. By depersonalising failure, you’ll be able to look at it objectively to find a solution.

Success is not final and failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts- Winston Churchill

Another popular quote from Winston Churchill is about failure. Success is not final and failure is not fatal clearly highlights that both these are mere events. If you are assigning more meaning, then you’re clearly overthinking.

Both events provide you with stepping stones to move further in life. Instead of over analysing them, treat them at face value. Identify what you want to do about it. Your dreams decide the intensity and capability of these successes. The most important point is about increasing the quality of your capabilities and even your dreams. You can use both success and failure to achieve that.

Failure is unimportant, it takes courage to make a fool of yourself – Charlie Chaplin

It takes courage to make mistakes. In her Ted Talk about vulnerability, Brene Brown talks about the courage to make mistakes and be ok with them. Failures are unimportant. We tend to give too much importance to these words.

Instead, it is just a result. Doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. If you don’t, then find a way to change it. If you like it, then investigate how you can build it further. Both these events only offer you the ability to progress and move from one step to another. If you are able to use them and not be afraid of going wrong – life can unfold various possibilities for you.

87% of all people fail, not because of capability, but because of personality – Kurt Einstein

This is my favourite quote to end the collection of inspiring quotes about failure. Personal capabilities are sometimes overrated. It comes down to your determination. We explored this in the quote – The difference between impossible and possible boils down to your determination.

Most times, failures are just a signal asking you to improve or change something. Your capabilities can be trained and learned through time. It is a good reason to blame when people fail. But that’s all it is. There are more important concerns about determination and the passion to achieve what you strongly feel for.

Most times, failure has less to do with your personality and more to do with your approach and attitude.