A Note On Failure

May 25, 2009 in Advice, Site Stuff, Writing | 3 comments

Things have been super crazy for me in these last few days, with a much-deserved but poorly timed weekend getaway, having to find a place to live by June 1st (AAAAAH!!!!!!) and then BEA this weekend… I’ve had no time for anything, let alone kicking up my heels and doing some reading or manuscript evaluation.

But I did stumble upon this old quote from Samuel Beckett’s Westward Ho, that pretty much sums up my opinions about failure. When your life is crumbling around you, as mine seems to be right now, with the moving and getting out of a 5 year relationship and being on shaky job ground, it’s hard not to think you’ve failed, majorly, at many things. But whenever I need a little perspective, I try to remember this:

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

That’s what I’m doing and what we should all aspire to. If we’re going to fail — which we all are and it isn’t nearly as scary as it sounds — at least we should remember to fail better! One of these days, that failure will be so good, we won’t be able to call it anything other than “success.”

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  1. Shari’s avatar

    Shari on June 2, 2009 at 4:37 pm

    One of these days, that failure will be so good, we won’t be able to call it anything other than “success.” — :)

  2. LSmith’s avatar

    LSmith on June 3, 2009 at 2:09 am

    Thank you for this. It’s so encouraging, and I really needed that, especially today. Or I guess yesterday, since it’s morning now.

    I hope everything works out for you!

  3. Mary’s avatar

    Mary on October 18, 2009 at 6:19 am

    Failure continues to scare me and then it always surprises me.
    The surprise is that it can take me to wonderful places in my life that would not have been possible without the failure coming first.

    :-)