“You never achieve what you want without falling on your face a few times.”
My understanding
Success isn’t a straight path. It’s full of falls and failures. But those moments of falling down are where the most important lessons lie. It’s about getting back up, wiser and more determined. Failure is part of the process.
This quote reminds me that setbacks aren’t the end of the road. They’re steps along the way to success. Falling down teaches me what doesn’t work, and it helps me grow stronger and smarter.
The idea is simple but powerful. If I want to achieve something big, I need to be ready to fail. It’s not about avoiding mistakes. It’s about learning from them and getting back up every time.
Success doesn’t come without effort, and effort doesn’t come without risk.
Reminds me
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The Turkish idiom says, “You can’t reach the top without first seeing the bottom.”
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From the Batman movie, “Why do we fall, Bruce? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.”
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And also “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because, believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart; even when it leads you off the well-worn path.” from Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address speech.
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And again from Steve Jobs “Your aesthetics get better as you make mistakes.” (Interview with Michael Moritz)
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Also Mark Twain’s quote “Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.”
Further readings
- How mistakes can help us move forward by Rachel Botsman