Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Failure often provides deeper lessons and wisdom than success does.
In plain terms
Good people learn more from failing than from succeeding.
What can you take from it?
Learn from your failures to gain wisdom.

Where it applies

  • recovering from loss
  • building resilience
  • evaluating growth

Putting it to work

  • reviewing past mistakes
  • sharing failure stories
  • learning new skills

Questions to consider

  • What did a failure teach you?
  • Do you value success too much?

Another view

Success can also provide valuable feedback and lessons.

More from William Saroyan

  1. All great art has madness, and quite a lot of bad art has it, too.

    Permalink to quote #71
  2. The business of polishing my shoes satisfies my soul.

    Permalink to quote #73
  3. My superficial manners stink and my profound manners are almost as bad.

    Permalink to quote #70

Related quotes

  1. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

    Tenzin GyatsoTenzin Gyatso quote #80
  2. We seem to gain wisdom more readily through our failures than through our successes. We always think of failure as the antithesis of success, but it isn't. Suc…

    Leo BuscagliaLeo Buscaglia quote #88
  3. I have always grown from my problems and challenges, from the things that don't work out, that's when I've really learned.

    Carol BurnettCarol Burnett quote #6