What Is Failure?

I recently saw this post on Quora: 

"I am a 30-year-old unmarried Indian male who failed at career and life.  

Click here to read the post. 

And here's my answer: 

A lot of this is about the language you are using. You say you have "failed".  What exactly does this mean?  

 

Thomas Edison famously said he had not failed to learn how to invent the lightbulb before he finally found a way to invent it (actually his employee, Lewis Latimer, invented the lightbulb but that's another story).  He had just found 10,000 ways that did not work.  See below for the quote.  

It's about the way you see yourself and the way you speak about yourself.  To turn this around, think "I have found ways that don't work".  You can still find ways that DO work.  Go for it!  

 

A few quotes about failure:  

 

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

― Thomas A. Edison

 

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

― Winston S. Churchill 

It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.

Bill Gates

 

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