106 Best Failure Quotes
Failure Quotes: Powerful Lessons on Mistakes, Growth, and Success After Setbacks
Failure is not the opposite of success—it’s usually the part people try to hide before they finally achieve it. Every meaningful achievement is built on repeated mistakes, wrong turns, and moments that looked like dead ends at the time. What separates people is not whether they fail, but whether they stop there or use it as raw material for improvement.
This collection of failure quotes explores the relationship between setbacks, learning, and long-term success. These reflections come from thinkers, creators, and leaders who understood that failure is often a necessary stage in growth rather than a final outcome. Whether you're dealing with mistakes, missed opportunities, or major setbacks, these quotes highlight a simple reality: failure only becomes permanent when you decide it is.
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts. - Winston Churchill12
Success is not built on success. It's built on failure. It's built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe. - Sumner Redstone11
There's a silly notion that failure's not an option at NASA. Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough. - Elon Musk0
The space shuttle was often used as an example of why you shouldn't even attempt to make something reusable. - Elon Musk0
You learn more from your failures than your successes – even if it don’t feel that way at the time. – Morgan Wallen0
We were supposed to fight for people who couldn't fight for themselves. We were supposed to fight for Willie. – Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson0
Get your shit together, get it all together and put it in a backpack, all your shit, so it's together. And if you gotta take it somewhere, take it somewhere, you know? Take it to the shit store and sell it, or put it in a shit museum. I don't care what you do, you just gotta get it together. Get your shit together. – Jerry0
If you're willing to try, you can always recover from a failure. But if you do nothing, you've already failed. – Pinako Rockbell0
The difference between winners and losers is whether or not they can stand up after they fall. – Lelouch Lamperouge0
The difference between the novice and the master is that the master has failed more times than the novice has tried. – Kite0
True strength is not about never falling. It’s about getting back up every time you fall. – Shimura Shinpachi0
The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life. – Narrator (on the dead parachutist)0
Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again. – Nelson Mandela0
Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations. – Steve Jobs0
You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. – Maya Angelou0
I was actually fired from my last job. But, uh, to be fair, I was trying to play football with a grapefruit. So, you know, I had it coming. – Ted Lasso0