by Earl
(Lansing, MI, USA)
Thomas Edison Picture
My favorite inspirational quote comes from Thomas Edison.
(On being asked how he felt about repeatedly failing to design a working light bulb)
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"
--Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison Edison was an early pioneer of electricity and worked tirelessly to develop the electric filament light bulb. He never let the failure of a certain design let him down and carefully learned from his mistakes and this attitude culminated in a highly successful design little changed today.
His attitude to failure is the way I live my life - everyone is going to make mistakes and not get things right the first time and the way we handle this defines us. I have plenty of experiences in my life that could be considered failures, but I prefer to view them as learning experiences. Every time I make a mistake, I learn from it and become a stronger, better-informed person.
The person I am today - which I am very happy with – is a result of the successes and failures that have befallen me throughout my life. If I took away those failures, I would have nothing against which to measure my successes and nothing to have learned from.