About Failure...

[sun]

In 1831 he failed in business.

In 1832 he was defeated for the state legislature.

In 1833 he failed again in business.

In 1834 he was elected to the state legislature.

In 1835 his sweetheart died.

In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown.

In 1838 he was defeated for Speaker.

In 1840 he was defeated for Elector.

In 1843 he was defeated for Congress.

In 1846 he was elected for one term to Congress.

In 1848 he was defeated again for Congress.

In 1855 he was defeated for the Senate.

In 1856 he was defeated for Vice President.

In 1858 he was defeated again for the Senate.

In 1860 he, finally, was elected President of the United States.


On November 19, 1863 in a field in Pennsylvania,
he wrote these long remembered words...............at the end of a short speech..


"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never
forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

[SilverKnight]

Yeah, and in 1861, half the nation he was running up and left, causing a bloody civil war; and in 1865, as a result of this war, he got his head blown off while watching a play.

Lincoln isn't exactly the model you want to use when going for something inspiring. Sorry.

Though, noting the long list of failed endeavors, I can see why the guy suffered from severe depression. I'm sure there's a moral in there, somewhere...

[Kagetsu]

To me it says "Destiny will out". Evil is easy, but will not prevail.

[AlltruismNervana]

The measure of a man is not how he copes with success but what his standards remain in failure.

History has told us there have been fewer selfless men in history.

A failure may have made weaker men loose thier morals and ethiics or perhaps people with less morals and ethics would not have failed in Biz. [lol]
difficult to say.

But to spite the negativity and all the reasons he could have chosen to look at life and people in a lesser way, he stayed true to beliefs of equality and freedom.

Truly the measure of a man, The trials of a lifetime!

[Zeonic Freak]

I'm sure there's a moral in there, somewhere...

That you keep trying and dont give up, no matter what the end result maybe...

As a line in Rocky 5 reminds me "Its not how many punches you throw, its how many you can take and still be standing."

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

To me it says "Destiny will out". Evil is easy, but will not prevail.

I was going to say the same thing, that at least Lincoln is in the history books , which is more than you can say for 95% of the rest of the world.

On the other hand, so is Hitler...

[fiero84]

Yes, I heard Hitler was a failed artist.

'failure' is something to learn from...If not, then what a waste of time.

Edison had a LOT of failures in the lab.
Washington lost several battles before he became a great military leader.

'failure' is hard to nail down. 2nd or 3rd place is nothing to be ashamed of.
You gotta be the 'best of the best' to even compete at many things.

To me, 'failure' does not = 'losing'...failure is NOT trying at all.

[Dr. OneWay]

All I could think was "Who failed?..." for the longest time until I actually read the post.

[EzraBladerunner]

That you keep trying and dont give up, no matter what the end result maybe...

As a line in Rocky 5 reminds me "Its not how many punches you throw, its how many you can take and still be standing."

Ain't it the truth. That's a state of mind that I want instead of my old "over-achiever, failurephobic" state of mind.


Yes, I heard Hitler was a failed artist.

'failure' is something to learn from...If not, then what a waste of time.

Edison had a LOT of failures in the lab.
Washington lost several battles before he became a great military leader.

'failure' is hard to nail down. 2nd or 3rd place is nothing to be ashamed of.
You gotta be the 'best of the best' to even compete at many things.

To me, 'failure' does not = 'losing'...failure is NOT trying at all.

That's a real comferting thought there. At least for someone like myself who used to be (and still is, in a way) afraid to fail (just a tendency I developed back in highschool when I didn't want to disappoint anyone).

So pretty much, I agree. Just because you failed at something (or didn't get top score) doesn't mean that you truly lost. It's a lesson to be learned.

[JustJack]

"You know, Thomas Edison tried and failed nearly 1,000 times to develop the carbonized cotton-thread filament for the incandescent light bulb...When asked about it, he said, "I didn't fail, I found out 999 ways how not to make a light bulb.' But he only needed to find one way to make it work."

I never fail either. I make a point to figure out how not to do things.;)

[SilverKnight]

Yes, well, inspiring as the whole concept of 'try, try again' is, using Lincoln as the focus still makes me laugh with irony. He made President, amazing I'll grant, and abolished slavery, best decision ever made, methinks, even so... His life was a cesspool of crap, and doing a handful of very noteworthy things as a means of avoiding dealing with a crushing sense of depression, well, isn't exactly inspiring me to do much more than read up on the benefits of Prozac.

But maybe I'm just cynical.

[Zeonic Freak]

Ain't it the truth. That's a state of mind that I want instead of my old "over-achiever, failurephobic" state of mind.



I failed just now where my line came from, its from the new Rocky movie, imasoastupido!!!!

But if you knew where it came from, good for you!

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

So pretty much, I agree. Just because you failed at something (or didn't get top score) doesn't mean that you truly lost. It's a lesson to be learned.
'
Sometimes you don't want to fail because the consequences can be severe. I mean, if you fail a course in college, you have to pay for it by either taking the course again or just accepting you wasted your money on it. You go in to get the credits, if you don't you failed.

Or, if you fail in business, now you have a nice little debt on your hands that could be hanging over you for quite some time.

If you fail with people or relationships, you might lose someone who you liked and spent a lot of time and money on for several years.

It's nice to look optimistic and say, "Well, live and learn" but sometimes failure doesn't mean you get to start over with a blank slate. Sometimes it means you have to pay for it for years. I wish it was like a video game where you could fail and start over, but life isn't like that. Sometimes you simply have to succeed just to keep your head above water.

Of course, things never work out that way, do they?

[screw on head]

Sun I see what you're saying and I think it's an important part of life to point out. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that it's appreciated that you bring such a point to light :). Sometimes it's good to stop and recognize these things and not to get caught up in the negative side of life or even trivial details...

[Dark Fact]

Sometimes you don't want to fail because the consequences can be severe. I mean, if you fail a course in college, you have to pay for it by either taking the course again or just accepting you wasted your money on it. You go in to get the credits, if you don't you failed.
Exactly! And if your parents are demanding that you succeed or else, that just makes it all the more important to pass.

There are some things in life that can't be failed, no matter what. Because some failures won't earn you a second chance.

[Frank Castle]

Read my sig. Paul Heyman is a genius.