on failure

Instead of saying "I failed", it's better to say, "I'm starting over". The only real failure is when you give up completely and don't try anything. Everything else is just a minor setback. I've had many such setbacks in my life. The life of the Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa inspires me.

He experienced many misfortunes in his life. His mother died when he was three, and three of his children died when they were young. His first wife also died a few years before him. In spite of that, he wrote numerous poems including thousands of haikus. His enormous body of work continues to be read to this day, both in the original Japanese and in translation. 

Failure is rarely fatal or permanent. The only sure things in life are death, taxes, and change. 

Some relevant quotes:

A minute’s success pays the failure of years. 

-Anonymous

Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. 

-Robert Browning 

Mistakes are the portals of discovery. 

-Neil Gaiman

Failure is an attitude, not an outcome.

-James Joyce