Subject: Problems » Failure

It is not enough to succeed, others must fail.

(1925 – 2012) author, playwright, essayist & screenwriter

The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil.

(1880 – 1956) journalist, essayist, editor & satirist

Experiments should be reproducible… they should all fail in the same way.

Mistakes are often the stepping stones to utter failure.

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

(1847 – 1931) American inventor, scientist & businessman

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.

(1952 – 2001) English writer, dramatist, & musician

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

To err is human to forgive, infrequent.

(1881 – 1960) American columnist

Byrne's Law: In any electrical circuit, appliances and wiring will burn out to protect fuses.

(1930 – ) American author and billiard player, teacher & commentator

A true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your success!

(1926 – ) newspaper columnist

Washing machines only break down during the wash cycle.
Corollary: All breakdowns occur on the plumber's day off.

A government is the only known vessel that leaks from the top.

(1909 – 1995) American journalist

A component’s degree of reliability is directly proportional to its ease of accessibility (i.e., the harder it is to get to, the more often it breaks down).

If your project doesn't work, look for the part you didn't think was important.

Percussive Maintenance: Striking a recalcitrant piece of electronic hardware in order to facilitate a successful reboot, and repeating as necessary.

Success doesn’t teach as many lessons as failure does.


The new hardware will break down as soon as the old is disconnected and out.

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

(1937 – 2008) stand-up comedian, social critic, actor & author

Informed decision-making comes from a long tradition of guessing and then blaming others for inadequate results.

(1957 – ) cartoonist (Dilbert)

Everything breaks down.

If it jams, force it; if it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.