Since failure is the first step toward success, we’ve compiled these quotes about failure from notable personalities to serve as inspiration during low moments.

• “Every failure is a condiment that gives success its flavor.” — Truman Capote, writer.
• “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill, politician.
• “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” — Thomas Alva Edison, inventor and entrepreneur.
• “It’s fine to celebrate success, but it’s more important to heed the lessons of failure.” — Bill Gates, Microsoft founder.
• “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over in my life, and that is why I succeed.” — Michael Jordan, athlete.
• “Every failure teaches a man something he needed to learn.” — Charles Dickens, writer.
• “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” — Henry Ford, entrepreneur.
• “In life, there is something worse than failure: not having tried at all.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt, politician.
• “There are defeats more dignified than a victory.” — Jorge Luis Borges, writer.
• “Failure strengthens the strong.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, writer.
• “There is no failure except in no longer trying.” — Jean Paul Marat, scientist.
• “Every mistake teaches us something.” — Morihei Ueshiba, master.
• “There is nothing to learn from success.” — David Bowie, singer.
• “It is much more beautiful to fail at something we love.” — Eduardo Sacheri, writer.
• “Very few succeed before they fail.” — Seneca, philosopher.
• “A failure is a man who has made a mistake but is not able to turn it into experience.” — Elbert Hubbard, writer.
• “A minute’s success pays the failure of years.” — Robert Browning, poet.
• “Failure does not exist; it is only a waiting period toward success.” — John Osborne, playwright.
• “Those who get discouraged by failure are those who already have all they can.” — E. W. Stevens, psychologist.