Now that I have grown old, I realize that for most of us it is not enough to have achieved personal success. One’s best friend must also have failed.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English novelist and playwright [William Somerset Maugham]

Comment (1959)

A comment recorded by a journalist on his 85th birthday, quoted in Richard Cordell, Somerset Maugham: A Biographical and Critical Study (1961). Cordell mentions the influence of La Rochefoucauld on the phrase, and it is therefore often attributed to La Rochefoucauld, though it is not in his Maxims.

Also attributed to Gore Vidal, Iris Murdoch, Genghis Khan.

Pithier (and more common) paraphrases:

• "It is not enough to succeed; one’s best friend must fail."
• "It is not enough to succeed; one’s friends must fail."
• "It is not enough to succeed; others must fail."
• "It’s not enough that I should succeed, others should fail."
• "It is not sufficient that I succeed –- all others must fail."

More discussion of this quotation here: It Is Not Enough to Succeed; One’s Best Friend Must Fail – Quote Investigator®.