WIST Quotations

Kettering, Charles F. -- Quoted in T. A. Boyd, Professional Amateur: The Biography of Charles Franklin Kettering, Part 3, ch. 20 (1957)

Dave — Sat, 27 Sep 2025 21:14:24 +0000

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.

Charles F. Kettering (1876-1958) American inventor, engineer, researcher, businessman
Quoted in T. A. Boyd, Professional Amateur: The Biography of Charles Franklin Kettering, Part 3, ch. 20 (1957)
(Source)

Kettering 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.

For example, there 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 piece, 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).

Ingersoll, Robert Green -- Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago

Dave — Fri, 02 May 2025 21:49:47 +0000

The real Bible is not the work of inspired men, nor prophets, nor apostles, nor evangelists, nor of Christs. Every man who finds a fact, adds, as it were, a word to this great book. It is not attested by prophecy, by miracles or signs. It makes no appeal to faith, to ignorance, to credulity or fear. It has no punishment for unbelief, and no reward for hypocrisy. It appeals to man in the name of demonstration. It has nothing to conceal. It has no fear of being read, of being contradicted, of being investigated and understood. It does not pretend to be holy, or sacred; it simply claims to be true. It challenges the scrutiny of all, and implores every reader to verify every line for himself. It is incapable of being blasphemed.

Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, freethinker, orator
Lecture (1874-05-03), “Heretics and Heresies,” Free Religious Society, Kingsbury Hall, Chicago
(Source)

Collected in The Gods and Other Lectures (1876).

Quindlen, Anna -- Article (2005-06-12), “Testing: One, Two, Three,” Newsweek

Dave — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 23:11:03 +0000

And what does this metastasizing testing, for every subject, at every level, at every time of the year, do to kids? It has to mean that students absorb the message that learning is a joyless succession of hoops through which they must jump, rather than a way of understanding and mastering the world. Every question has one right answer; the measure of a person is a number. Being insightful, or creative, or, heaven forfend, counterintuitive counts for nothing.

Anna Quindlen (b. 1953) American journalist, novelist
Article (2005-06-12), “Testing: One, Two, Three,” Newsweek
(Source)

Nightingale, Florence -- Letter to Lord Edward Geoffrey Stanley (17 May 1857)

Dave — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 16:36:10 +0000

I agree as to the doubtful value of competitive examination. The qualities which you really want, viz., self-control, self-reliance, habits of accurate thought, integrity and what you generally call trustworthiness, are not decided by competitive examination, which test little else than the memory.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) English social reformer, statistician, founder of modern nursing
Letter to Lord Edward Geoffrey Stanley (17 May 1857)
(Source)

Regarding selection processes for military officers. This was undergoing reform during the period, including the radical proposal to prevent people from buying their way into lower officer ranks.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo -- Essay (1841), “Circles,” Essays: First Series, No. 10

Dave — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 16:20:42 +0000

No facts are to me sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no Past at my back.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
Essay (1841), “Circles,” Essays: First Series, No. 10
(Source)

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."

Hubbard, Elbert -- Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 12: Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Scientists, “William Herschel” (1916)

Dave — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 13:19:15 +0000

Constant effort and frequent mistakes are the stepping-stones of genius.

Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American writer, businessman, philosopher
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 12: Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Scientists, “William Herschel” (1916)
(Source)

Sagan, Carl -- “The Burden of Skepticism,” Pasadena lecture (1987)

Dave — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:29:03 +0000

It seems to me what is called for is an exquisite balance between two conflicting needs: the most skeptical scrutiny of all hypotheses that are served up to us and at the same time a great openness to new ideas. Obviously those two modes of thought are in some tension. But if you are able to exercise only one of these modes, whichever one it is, you’re in deep trouble.

If you are only skeptical, then no new ideas make it through to you. You never learn anything new. You become a crotchety old person convinced that nonsense is ruling the world. (There is, of course, much data to support you.) But every now and then, maybe once in a hundred cases, a new idea turns out to be on the mark, valid and wonderful. If you are too much in the habit of being skeptical about everything, you are going to miss or resent it, and either way you will be standing in the way of understanding and progress.

On the other hand, if you are open to the point of gullibility and have not an ounce of skeptical sense in you, then you cannot distinguish useful ideas from the worthless ones. If all ideas have equal validity then you are lost, because then, it seems to me, no ideas have any validity at all.

Carl Sagan (1934-1996) American scientist and writer
“The Burden of Skepticism,” Pasadena lecture (1987)
(Source)

Reprinted in The Skeptical Inquirer (Fall 1987).