List of Famous Failure Quotes in English with Images

Here are some famous quotes about failure with their meanings and simple examples:


1. "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." — Henry Ford

  • Meaning: Failure gives us a chance to start over, with the knowledge we gained from our mistakes.

  • Example: If you fail a math test, you can study the areas you missed and do better on the next one.


2. "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." — Winston Churchill

  • Meaning: Neither success nor failure is permanent; what matters is that you keep going.

  • Example: Even if your team loses one game, it’s important to stay positive and keep playing.


3. "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." — Thomas Edison

  • Meaning: Each failed attempt brings you closer to success, as you learn what doesn’t work.

  • Example: If you keep trying different ways to bake a cake, you’ll eventually find the perfect recipe.


4. "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." — Robert F. Kennedy

  • Meaning: Taking big risks, even if they lead to failure, is necessary to achieve something amazing.

  • Example: An athlete who attempts a new, challenging move in practice might fail at first, but eventually, they could master it.


5. "Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor." — Truman Capote

  • Meaning: Failure makes success feel even better because we appreciate it more after struggling.

  • Example: If you work hard after failing in art class and finally succeed, that success feels even more satisfying.


6. "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." — Confucius

  • Meaning: True achievement is in the ability to keep getting back up after each failure.

  • Example: If you fall off your bike while learning, each time you get up to try again brings you closer to success.


7. "Failure is a stepping stone to success." — Arianna Huffington

  • Meaning: Failure is a necessary part of the path to reaching success.

  • Example: Each time you don’t make the school team but improve your skills, it’s a step closer to getting in next year.


8. "If you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough." — Unknown

  • Meaning: If you never experience failure, it may mean you aren’t challenging yourself.

  • Example: In a music class, if you always play simple pieces, you’ll never know how much you could improve by trying harder pieces, even if you make mistakes.


These quotes highlight that failure is not something to fear but rather a part of growth and success.

Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they give up.

- Thomas A. Edison Quotes

Have you heard that it was good to gain the day? I also it is good to fall, battles are lost in the same spirit in which they are won.

- Walt Whitman Quotes

Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure.

- William Saroyan Quotes

Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.

- Carl Jung Quote

Don't be discouraged by a failure.  It can be a positive experience.  Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid.

- Quotes by John Keats

If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the failing down but the staying down.

- Mary Pickford Quotes

I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure to please everybody all the time.

- Herbert Bayard Swope Quotes

Try as hard as we may for perfection, the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectness. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways.

- Samuel McChord Crothers Quotes

Failure? I never encountered it. All I ever met were temporary setbacks. 

- Failure Quotes by by Dottie Walters

Failure? I never encountered it. All I ever met were temporary setbacks.

- Failure Quotes by by Dottie Walters Download or Share

It is possible to fail in many ways… while to succeed is possible only in one way.

- Failure Quotes by Aristotle

It is possible to fail in many ways… while to succeed is possible only in one way.

- Failure Quotes by Aristotle Download or Share

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

- Failure Quotes by Beverly Sills

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

- Failure Quotes by Beverly Sills Download or Share

If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.

- Failure Quotes by Anonymous Download or Share

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.

- Failure Quotes by Bill Cosby Download or Share

If at first don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.

- Failure Quotes by Bill Lyon Download or Share

Act as if it were impossible to fail.

- Failure Quotes by Dorothea Brande

It is not enough to succeed. Other must fail.

- Gore Vidal Quotes

Men are born to succeed, not fail.

- Henry David Thoreau Quotes

You always pass failure on the way to success.

- Mickey Rooney Quotes

Success isn't permanent, and failure isn't fatal.

- Mike Ditka Quotes

If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

- Quentin Crisp Quotes

We all have a few failures under our belt. It's what makes us ready for the success.

- Randy K. Milholland Quotes

A minute's success pays the failure of years.

- Robert Browning Quotes

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

- Sir Winston Churchill Quotes