WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- Essay (1951-12), “This I Believe: Growth that Starts from Thinking,” on Edward R. Murrow, This I Believe, CBS Radio

Dave — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 17:18:33 +0000

And the important thing was that you never let down doing the best that you were able to do — it might be poor because you might not have very much within you to give, or to help other people with, or to live your life with. But as long as you did the very best that you were able to do, then that was what you were put here to do and that was what you were accomplishing by being here.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Essay (1951-12), “This I Believe: Growth that Starts from Thinking,” on Edward R. Murrow, This I Believe, CBS Radio
(Source)

(Source (Audio); start 3:04), The essay was read without a script.

Collected in Edward P. Morgan (ed.), This I Believe (1952).

Billings, Josh -- Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 132 “Affurisms: Chips” (1874)

Dave — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 15:21:33 +0000

We sumtimes hit a thing right the fust blow, but most always a suckcess iz the result ov menny failures.

[We sometimes hit a thing right the first blow, but almost always a success is the result of many failures.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 132 “Affurisms: Chips” (1874)
(Source)

In the UK collection Wit and Wisdom of Josh Billings (1913) [ed. H. Montague], this reads:

We sometimes hit the bulls-eye at the first crack, but SUCCESS is usually the result of many failures.

Gaiman, Neil -- Speech (2012-05-17), Commencement, University of the Arts, Philadelphia [09:17]

Dave — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 19:32:01 +0000

I hope you’ll make mistakes. If you make mistakes, it means you’re out there doing something. And the mistakes in themselves can be very useful. I once misspelled Caroline, in a letter, transposing the As and the O, and I thought, “Coraline looks almost like a real name…”

Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Speech (2012-05-17), Commencement, University of the Arts, Philadelphia [09:17]
(Source)

(Source (Video))

Maugham, W. Somerset -- The Summing Up, ch. 73 (1934)

Dave — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 20:40:39 +0000

When I was young I was amazed at Plutarch’s statement that the elder Cato began at the age of eighty to learn Greek. I am amazed no longer. Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long.

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) English novelist and playwright [William Somerset Maugham]
The Summing Up, ch. 73 (1934)
(Source)

Forbes, Bertie Charles -- Forbes Epigrams (1922)

Dave — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 22:22:34 +0000

The man who has done his level best, and who is conscious that he has done his best, is a success.

Bertie Charles (B. C.) Forbes (1880-1954) American publisher
Forbes Epigrams (1922)
(Source)

Gaiman, Neil -- Blog entry (2011-12-31), “My New Year Wish”

Dave — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 21:24:33 +0000

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.
So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Blog entry (2011-12-31), “My New Year Wish”
(Source)

Antrim, Minna -- At the Sign of the Golden Calf (1905)

Dave — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 15:04:32 +0000

Three Failures denote uncommon strength. A weakling has not enough grit to fail thrice.

Minna Antrim (1861-1950) American epigrammatist, writer
At the Sign of the Golden Calf (1905)
(Source)

Young, Edward -- Poem (1742-11), “Night the 2nd: On Time, Death, and Friendship,” ll. 91-92, The Complaint: Or, Night Thoughts, Vol. 1 (1744)

Dave — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 15:51:20 +0000

Who does the best his circumstance allows
Does well, acts nobly; angels could no more.

Edward Young (1683-1765) English poet
Poem (1742-11), “Night the 2nd: On Time, Death, and Friendship,” ll. 91-92, The Complaint: Or, Night Thoughts, Vol. 1 (1744)
(Source)

Barrett, James Lee -- Shenandoah (1965)

Dave — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 15:00:33 +0000

CHARLIE ANDERSON: I wanna say somethin’. I’ve known since the train that we weren’t liable to find him. It was just a hair of a chance that we got Sam back. I knew that. Maybe I knew even before we left home, but somehow I just had to try! And if we don’t try, we don’t do. And if we don’t do, why are we here on this earth?

James Lee Barrett (1929-1989) American author, producer, screenwriter
Shenandoah (1965)
(Source)

Hurston, Zora Neale -- Dust Tracks on a Road, ch. 2 “My Folks” (1942)

Dave — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 18:31:48 +0000

Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to “jump at de sun.” We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) American writer, folklorist, anthropologist
Dust Tracks on a Road, ch. 2 “My Folks” (1942)
(Source)

Plath, Sylvia -- (Attributed)

Dave — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 21:55:24 +0000

I love my rejection slips. They show me I try.

Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) American poet and author
(Attributed)

~Other -- Mike Monteiro, Design Is a Job (2012)

Dave — Thu, 12 May 2016 16:20:59 +0000

Confidence doesn’t come from knowing you’re right — it comes from being okay with failing.

(Other Authors and Sources)
Mike Monteiro, Design Is a Job (2012)

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 906 (1732)

Dave — Thu, 21 Apr 2016 14:43:48 +0000

Better hazard once than be always in fear.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 906 (1732)
(Source)

Stevenson, Robert Louis -- Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37

Dave — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 14:29:20 +0000

Some people swallow the universe like a pill; they travel on through the world, like smiling images pushed from behind. For God’s sake give me the young man who has brains enough to make a fool of himself!

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) Scottish essayist, novelist, poet
Essay (1878-03), “Crabbed Age and Youth,” Cornhill Magazine, Vol. 37
(Source)

Collected in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, ch. 2 (1881)

Kasdan, Lawrence -- The Empire Strikes Back (1980) [with George Lucas and Leigh Brackett]

Dave — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 16:49:27 +0000

YODA: No! Try not. Do — or do not. There is no try.

Lawrence Kasdan (b. 1949) American screenwriter, director, producer
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) [with George Lucas and Leigh Brackett]

Kettering, Charles F. -- (Attributed)

Dave — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 13:07:30 +0000

An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he’s in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots.

Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958) American inventor, engineer, researcher, businessman
(Attributed)

Swensen, Daniel -- Orison (2014)

Dave — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 16:58:56 +0000

If she asked for the sun, he would climb the sky until he burned.

Daniel Swensen (b. c.1975) American writer
Orison (2014)

Kettering, Charles F. -- Essay (1952-01), “Don’t Be Afraid to Stumble,” The Rotarian, Vol. 80, No. 1

Dave — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 14:35:09 +0000

[T]he more education a man has, the less likely he is to invent new things. Possibly this is because from the moment the boy or girl starts in school he or she is examined three or four times a year and a failure or two and he or she is out. Now because an inventor works differently, he thinks that’s all wrong. He knows he’ll never go far on any problem before he strikes snags. He may flunk 999 times but if on his 1,000th try he succeeds, he wins! The only time you don’t want to fail is the last time you try a thing.

Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958) American inventor, engineer, researcher, businessman
Essay (1952-01), “Don’t Be Afraid to Stumble,” The Rotarian, Vol. 80, No. 1
(Source)

Kettering, who was R&D Director at General Motors for many years, constantly emphasized the need for experimentation and, by definition, learning from experimental failures. He had a number of aphorisms and passages that were repeated by him on various speaking occasions, or quoted / paraphrased from him by others, particularly the last line above.

In T. A. Boyd's biography of Kettering, Professional Amateur, Part 3, ch. 20 (1957), we have:

It therefore seems that the only factor which needs to be corrected is to teach a highly educated person that it is not a disgrace to fail and he must analyze every failure to find its cause. We paraphrase this by saying, "You must learn how to fail intelligently." [...] For failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. [...] Once you've failed, analyze the problem and find out why, because each failure is one more step leading up to the cathedral of success. The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try.

Here is this similar passage attributed to Kettering from a page blurb, "Don't Be Afraid to Stumble," Supervisory Management magazine, Vol. 2, No. 7 (1957-06):

We need to teach the intelligent person that it is not a disgrace to fail and that he must analyze every failure to find its cause. He must learn how to fail intelligently, for failing is one of the greatest arts in the world. Once you've failed, analyze the problem and find out why, because each failure is one more step leading to success. The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try.

The shorter the phrase, the more likely it is to be quoted on its own, e.g.:

The only time you don't want to fail is the last time you try.

Which can be found in:

T. A. Boyd, Research, ch. 22 "Persistance" (1935).
Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Journal, Vol 42, No. 2 (1938-02), covering the Detroit SAE Annual Meeting (1938-01-10 to 14).

Other variants that can be found:

"The only time you mustn't fail is the last time you try."
"The only time you can't afford to fail is the last time you try."
"The only time you don't fail is the last time you try something, and it works."

Chichester, Francis -- Comment (1967)

Dave — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 13:41:09 +0000

Life is dull without a challenge. If your try fails, what does that matter? All life is failure in the end. The thing is to get some sport out of trying.

Francis Chichester (1901-1972) English aviator and sailor
Comment (1967)

After single-handedly circumnavigating the globe.

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 5110 (1732)

Dave — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 14:40:04 +0000

‘Tis Perseverance that prevails.

Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 5110 (1732)
(Source)

Adams, Douglas -- Dirk Gently No. 1, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, ch. 20 [Dirk] (1987)

Dave — Mon, 18 May 2015 12:26:48 +0000

Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.

Douglas Adams (1952-2001) English author, humorist, screenwriter
Dirk Gently No. 1, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, ch. 20 [Dirk] (1987)
(Source)

Roosevelt, Eleanor -- You Learn By Living (1960)

Dave — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 12:30:11 +0000

Surely, in the light of history, it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try. For one thing we know beyond all doubt: Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, “It can’t be done.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
You Learn By Living (1960)

Byron, George Gordon, Lord -- Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, Act 1, sc. 1 [Doge] (1821)

Dave — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 15:44:06 +0000

You have deeply ventured;
But all must do so who would greatly win.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) English poet
Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, Act 1, sc. 1 [Doge] (1821)
(Source)

Carter, Jimmy -- Why Not The Best? (1975)

Dave — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 14:02:40 +0000

I had applied for the nuclear submarine program, and Admiral Rickover was interviewing me for the job. It was the first time I met Admiral Rickover, and we sat in a large room by ourselves for more than two hours, and he let me choose any subjects I wished to discuss. Very carefully, I chose those about which I knew most at the time, current events, seamanship, music, literature, naval tactics, electronics, gunnery and he began to ask me a series of questions of increasing difficulty. In each instance, he soon proved that I knew relatively little about the subject I had chosen.

He always looked right into my eyes, and he never smiled. I was saturated with cold sweat.

Finally, he asked a question and I thought I could redeem myself. He said, “How did you stand in your class at the Naval Academy?” Since I had completed my sophomore year at Georgia Tech before entering Annapolis as a plebe, I had done very well, and I swelled my chest with pride and answered, “Sir, I stood fifty-ninth in a class of 820!”

I sat back to wait for the congratulations, which never came. Instead, the question: “Did you do your best?” I started to say, “Yes, sir,” but I remembered who this was and recalled several of the many times at the Academy when I could have learned more about our allies, our enemies, weapons, strategy, and so forth. I was just human. I finally gulped and said, “No, sir, I didn’t always do my best.”

He looked at me for a long time, and then turned his chair around to end the interview. He asked one final question, which I have never been able to forget or to answer. He said, “Why not?”

I sat there for a while, shaken, and then slowly left the room.

Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) American politician, US President (1977-1981), Nobel laureate [James Earl Carter, Jr.]
Why Not The Best? (1975)

Tagore, Rabindranath -- Sadhana: The Realization of Life, ch. 3 (1913)

Dave — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 13:34:03 +0000

When we watch a child trying to walk, we see its countless failures; its success are but few. If we had to limit our observation within a narrow space of time, the sight would be cruel. But we find that in spite of its repeated failures, there is an impetus of joy in the child which sustains it in its seemingly impossible task. We see it does not think of its falls so much as of its power to keep its balance though for only a moment.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
Sadhana: The Realization of Life, ch. 3 (1913)
(Source)

Johnson, Samuel -- Comment (22 Sep 1777)

Dave — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 14:48:20 +0000

Talking of the danger of being mortified by rejection, when making approaches to the acquaintance of the great, I observed, “I am, however, generally for trying, ‘Nothing venture, nothing have.'” JOHNSON. “Very true, sir; but I have always been more afraid of failing, than hopeful of success.”

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (22 Sep 1777)
(Source)

In Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) See Heywood.

Schuller, Robert H. -- You Can Become the Person You Want To Be, ch. 2 (1973)

Dave — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 13:17:18 +0000

What goals would you be setting for yourself if you knew you could not fail?

Robert H. Schuller (1926-2015) American televangelist, pastor, motivational speaker, author
You Can Become the Person You Want To Be, ch. 2 (1973)

Earliest version of this aphorism. Often attributed (without citation) to Eleanor Roosevelt. See here for more information. Variants:

"What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?"
"If you knew you cold not fail, what would you try?"
"What great things would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?"

Kennedy, John F. -- “The New Frontier,” Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles (15 Jul 1960)

Dave — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 12:41:35 +0000

That is the question of the New Frontier. That is the choice our nation must make — a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties, but between the public interest and private comfort — between national greatness and national decline — between the fresh air of progress and the stale, dank atmosphere of “normalcy” — between determined dedication and creeping mediocrity. All mankind waits upon our decision. A whole world looks to see what we will do. We cannot fail their trust, we cannot fail to try.

John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) American politician, author, journalist, US President (1961–63)
“The New Frontier,” Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles (15 Jul 1960)

Heinlein, Robert A. -- Time Enough for Love (1973)

Dave — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 13:09:48 +0000

Tilting at windmills hurts you more than the windmills.

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) American writer
Time Enough for Love (1973)

Johnson, Samuel -- The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 6 (1759)

Dave — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:34:00 +0000

Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 6 (1759)
(Source)

Gaiman, Neil -- Sandman, Book 6. Fables and Reflections, Vertigo Preview, “Fear of Falling” (1992-12)

Dave — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:17:24 +0000

DREAM: It is sometimes a mistake to climb; it is always a mistake never even to make the attempt.

Neil Gaiman (b. 1960) British author, screenwriter, fabulist
Sandman, Book 6. Fables and Reflections, Vertigo Preview, “Fear of Falling” (1992-12)
(Source)

Eliot, T. S. -- “East Coker” (1940), Four Quartets (1943)

Dave — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:50:52 +0000

For us there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.

T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) American-British poet, critic, playwright [Thomas Stearns Eliot]
“East Coker” (1940), Four Quartets (1943)

Heywood, John -- Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 11 (1564)

Dave — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:04:58 +0000

Nought venter nought have.

John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 11 (1564)
(Source)

More commonly rendered, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Clemenceau, Georges -- Conversation wth Jean Martet (1 Jun 1928)

Dave — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:35:35 +0000

man’s life is interesting primarily when he has failed — I well know. For it’s a sign that he tried to surpass himself.

Georges Clemenceau (1841–1929) French statesman, physician, journalist
Conversation wth Jean Martet (1 Jun 1928)

In J. Martet, Clemenceau, The Events of His Life as Told by Himself to His Former Secretary, Jean Martet, ch. 30 (1930) [tr. M. Waldman]

Hale, Edward Everett -- “I Am Only One”

Dave — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 17:29:18 +0000

I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) American clergyman and author
“I Am Only One”

Lowell, James Russell -- “For an Autograph,” st. 5 (1868)

Dave — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:51:34 +0000

Not failure, but low aim, is crime.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) American diplomat, essayist, poet
“For an Autograph,” st. 5 (1868)
(Source)

Truman, Harry S -- Time, “The Presidency: The Answer Man” (28 Apr. 1952)