Failing Quotes - Page 21

• I fail to see what fun, what satisfaction / A God can find in laughing at how badly / Men fumble at the possibilities.

  Robert Frost

  Fun, Men, Laughing

  Robert Frost (1963). “Selected poems”

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• The earth's distances invite the eye. And as the eye reaches, so must the mind stretch to meet these new horizons. I challenge anyone to stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see a new expanse not only around him, but in him, too.

  Hal Borland

  Distance, Eye, Autumn

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• Although the poet has as wide a choice of subjects as the painter, his creations fail to afford as much satisfaction to mankind as do paintings... if the poet serves the understanding by way of the ear, the painter does so by the eye, which is the nobler sense.

  Leonardo da Vinci

  Eye, Choices, Understanding

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• A story, in which native humour reigns, Is often useful, always entertains; A graver fact, enlisted on your side, May furnish illustration, well applied; But sedentary weavers of long tales Give me the fidgets, and my patience fails.

  William Cowper

  Illustration, Your Side, Long

  William Cowper (1855). “The complete poetical works of William Cowper, with life and critical notice of his writings”, p.86

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• Blest be those feasts, with simple plenty crowned, Where all the ruddy family around Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale.

  Oliver Goldsmith

  Simple, Laughing, Eating

  Oliver Goldsmith (1837). “The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M. B.: Including a Variety of Pieces”, p.14

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• Disorganization can scarcely fail to result in efficiency.

  Dwight D. Eisenhower

  Efficiency, Disorganization, Results

  Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dwight David Eisenhower (1963). “The white house years: mandate for change 1953-1956”

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• When the laws are written and administered by the most powerful leaders in a society, it is human nature for them to understand, justify, and protect the interests of themselves and people like them. Many injustices arise from this natural human failing.

  Jimmy Carter

  Powerful, Law, Justice

  Jimmy Carter (2011). “Living Faith”, p.113, Three Rivers Press

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• If we fail to appreciate the soul that Easternism gives us, then what we have is a disconnected, Greco-Roman, Western, egocentric, compartmentalized, reductionist, fragmented, linear thought process that counts on cleverness.

  Joel Salatin

  Appreciate, Giving, Soul

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• The only work of art which succeeds is that which fails.

  Jean Cocteau

  Success, Art, Succeed

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• Writers are what they write, also what they fail to write.

  Diana Trilling

  Writing

  Diana Trilling (1993). “The Beginning of the Journey: The Marriage of Diana and Lionel Trilling”, Harcourt

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• I am learning that if I just go on accepting the framework for life that others have given me, if I fail to make my own choices, the reason for my life will be missing. I will be unable to recognize that which I have the power to change.

  Liv Ullmann

  Choices, Missing, Goes On

  Liv Ullmann, Robert Emmet Long (2006). “Liv Ullmann: Interviews”, p.136, Univ. Press of Mississippi

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• To overcome fear, act as if it were impossible to fail, and it shall be.

  Brian Tracy

  Swimming, Overcoming, Impossible

  Brian Tracy (2008). “Effective Leadership”, p.31, Jaico Publishing House

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• The biggest mischief in the past century has been perpetrated by Rousseau with his doctrine of the goodness of human nature. The mob and the intellectuals derived from it the vision of a Golden Age which would arrive without fail once the noble human race could act according to its whims.

  Jacob Burckhardt

  Past, Race, Vision

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• The character of greatness must be measured in two ways, else the measurement is flawed. First, and by far most popular of all, is by one's ability to succeed in times of trial where others may fail. But of no less importance, and perhaps foundational to any form of greatness, is one's willingness to start over in spite of failure, when success seems farthest away.

  Guy Finley

  Character, Greatness, Two

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• O faithful conscience, delicately pure, how doth a little failing wound thee sore!

  Dante Alighieri

  Faithful, Littles, Thee

  "Divine Comedy". Poem by Dante Alighieri. Purgatorio, Song III, 8, 1321.

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• I should have wished to possess the intellectual equilibrium that characterizes you and permits you to achieve without fail the desired end... Chance has not favoured me with an equal self-assurance, it is the only regret I have about things of this earth.

  Paul Cezanne

  Confidence, Regret, Self

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• A great novel is concerned primarily with the interior lives of its characters, as they respond to the inconvenient narratives that fate imposes on them. Movie adaptations of these monumental fictions often fail because they become mere exercises in interior decoration.

  Richard Schickel

  Character, Fate, Exercise

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Nonsense and noise will oft prevail, When honor and affection fail.

  Robert Lloyd

  Honor, Noise, Affection

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• We deprive our children, our charges, of persistence. What I am trying to say is that we need to fail, children need to fail, we need to feel sad, anxious and anguished. If we impulsively protect ourselves and our children, as the feel-good movement suggests, we deprive them of learning-persistence skills.

  Martin Seligman

  Children, Persistence, Skills

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• If I could get the ear of every young man but for one word, it would be this: make the most and best of yourself. There is no tragedy like a wasted life--a life failing of its true end, and turned to a false end.

  Thornton T. Munger

  Men, Tragedy, Would Be

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• Your ego is an avid interpreter. It is so quick to interpret events as 'bad' or 'good,' 'wrong' or 'right.' It never fails to see 'the little picture.

  Robert Holden

  Avid, Ego, Littles

  Robert Holden (2006). “Shift Happens!: Powerful Ways to Transform Your Life”

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• I'd like to have a word for 'the sadness inspired by failing restaurants' as well as for 'the excitement of getting a room with a minibar.

  Jeffrey Eugenides

  Sadness, Rooms, Excitement

  Jeffrey Eugenides (2003). “Middlesex”, p.217, A&C Black

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• If you are sure that you are about to fail, then this strange and serene calmness can come over you or the most abject fear and panic and feeling of helplessness.

  Peter Gallagher

  Over You, Feelings, Panic

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• The only people I have ever seen paint successfully, consistently, with great authority, unselfconsciously and without fear of failing were about four years old.

  Brian Johnson

  Years, People, Four

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• Many days you will want to give up because of rejections and failures. Passion to be an artist will help you prevail where others fail.

  Jack White

  Giving Up, Passion, Artist

  Jack White (2013). “Messages of Effusion: Challenging Answers for Perplexing Career Situations Artists Encounter”, p.103, Lulu Press, Inc

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