50 Inspiring Quotes to Help You Overcome the Fear of Failure
Based on hearing from readers of Pocket Changed, one of the biggest fears people have in their lives is failure.
- Afraid they won't succeed if they try something new
- Fear that they might never "make it" doing what they are passionate about
- Fear that keeps them from following their heart
Life is too short to let fear make big decisions for you.
It is not easy to overcome the fear of failure, but once you build up the confidence to not let fear hold you back you'll acheive much more.
Today's post includes some of the best quotes to turn to when you are afraid to do something because you think you'll fail. I hope that at least in a small way this group of quotes inspires you to take more risks in your life and reach for your dreams.
"I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate." George Burns
"I've come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy." Tony Robbins
"You’ll always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take." Wayne Gretzky
"Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable." Coco Chanel
"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure." George Edward Woodberry
"You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don't try to forget the mistakes, but you don't dwell on it. You don't let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space." Johnny Cash
"Forget about the consequences of failure. Failure is only a temporary change in direction to set you straight for your next success." Denis Waitley
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" Vincent van Gogh
"I really don't think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure but I can't imagine that I'd forgive myself if I didn't try." Nikki Giovanni
"No man ever achieved worth-while success who did not, at one time or other, find himself with at least one foot hanging well over the brink of failure." Napoleon Hill
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." Theodore Roosevelt
"Do one thing every day that scares you." Eleanor Roosevelt
"There is no failure except in no longer trying." Elbert Hubbard
"Experience teaches slowly, and at the cost of mistakes." James A. Froude
"A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it." Ambrose Bierce
"Don't be afraid of missing opportunities. Behind every failure is an opportunity somebody wishes they had missed." Lily Tomlin
"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying." Michael Jordan
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." Confucius
"Try a thing you haven’t done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not." Virgil Thomson
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important." Steve Jobs
"Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it." Mia Hamm
"One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." Andre Gide
"The only failure is not to try." George Clooney
"Fear is only as deep as the mind allows." Japanese Proverb
"If you're doing your best, you won't have any time to worry about failure." H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
"Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something." Morihei Ueshiba
"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy." Dale Carnegie
"Alfred Pennyworth: Took quite a fall, didn't we, Master Bruce? Thomas Wayne: And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up." Batman Begins
"Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise." Anonymous
"We learn wisdom from failure much more than success. We often discover what we will do, by finding out what we will not do." Samuel Smiles
"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." Bertrand Russell
"Failure is success if we learn from it." Malcolm Forbes
"I've missed more than 9000 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 and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." Michael Jordan
"He knows the water best who has waded through it." Danish Proverb
"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic." Anonymous
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." Frank Herbert
"Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street." Zig Ziglar
"Success isn't permanent and failure isn't fatal." Mike Ditka
"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way." George Herman "Babe" Ruth
"The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows." Buddha
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." Winston Churchill
"Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success." Dale Carnegie
"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually be afraid you will make one." Elbert Hubbard
"For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour." Mary Kay Ash
"Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure." Napoleon Hill
"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." Bill Cosby
"One who fears failure limits his activities. Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again." Henry Ford
"No man is a failure who is enjoying life." William Feather
"Failure doesn't mean you are a failure it just means you haven't succeeded yet." Robert H. Schuller
"My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure." Abraham Lincoln
"Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out." Benjamin Franklin
Which of the above quotes resonated most with you? Or, let me know in the comments below if I missed your favorite quote about fear or failure.
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