Meet the Famous Failures (A Lesson On Perseverance)

Einstein was 9 years old before he could speak.

Issac Newton did poorly in grade school and was considered "unpromising."

When Thomas Edison was a youngster, his teacher told him he was too stupid to learn anything. He was counseled to go into a field where he might succeed by virtue of his pleasant personality.

F.W. Woolworth got a job in a dry goods store when he was 21, but his boss would not permit him to wait on customers because he "didn't have enough sense to close a sale."

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

Bob Cousy suffered the same fate, but he too is a Hall of Famer.

A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he "lacked imagination and had no original ideas."

Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade and had to repeat it because he did not complete the tests that were required for promotion.

Babe Ruth struck out 1,300 times, a major league record.

Vincent Van Gogh suffered mental illness, failed relationships, and committed suicide at the age of 37. He only ever sold one painting in his life, pinning him a failure as an artist. However that did not put a damper on his enthusiasm and passion for art.

He would never know that years and years after his death he would become known as a key figure in the world of post-impressionism, and ultimately, one of the greatest artist that ever lived. He would never know that he became a hot topic in art classes and his image was going to be used in TV, books and other forms of popular culture.

In the words of this great, but tragic man, “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”

Here is a motivational video about other famous failures...

During a Harvard commencement speech, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling outlined the importance and value of failure. Why? Simply because she was once a failure too. A few short years after her graduation from college, her worst nightmares were realized. In her words, “I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.” Coming out of this failure stronger and more determined was the key to her success.

A person may make mistakes, but is not a failure until he or she starts blaming someone else. We must believe in ourselves, and somewhere along the road of life we will meet someone who sees greatness in us and lets us know it.

Share this with someone who may need a little inspiration.