Let me point out, if it has escaped your notice, that what an artist does, is fail.

-Barthelme, Donald
  Sadness,'The Sandman'.

Ever tried.Ever failed.No matter. Tryagain. Fail again. Fail better.

-Beckett, Samuel
  Worstward Ho.

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Joshua1:5.

It's me Auntie Maggie's home-made remedy Guaranteed never to fail Now that's the stuff that will do the trick It's sold at ev'ry chemist for 'one and a kick'.

-Formby, George
  'Auntie Maggie's Remedy' (with Eddie Latta), song featured in the film Turned Out Nice Again.

If you believe in the maternal instinct and fail at mother love, you fail as a woman. It is a controlling idea that holds us in an iron grip.

-Friday, Nancy
  My Mother, My Self, ch.1.

The self isnow the sacred cow of American culture, self- esteem is sacrosanct, and so we labour to turn arts education into a system in which no one can fail. In the same spirit, tennis could be shorn of its elitist overtones: you just get rid of the net.

-Hughes, Robert Studley Forrest
  Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of  America.

Unmoved though witlings sneer and rivals rail; Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail.

-Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson
c.1737  Irene, prologue (first produced1749).

Worldly wisdom teaches us that it is better for the reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally.

-Keynes (of Tilton),John Maynard, 1st Baron
  The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

I think I fail a bit less than everyone else.

-Nicklaus,JackWilliam knownas 'the GoldenBear'
Quoted in Michael Hobbs The Golf Quotation Book (1992).

Passionless bride, divineTranquillity, Yearned after by the wisest of the wise, Who fail to find thee, being as thou art Without one pleasure and without one pain.

-Tennyson
  'Lucretius',1.265^8.

Pray God our greatness may not fail Through craven fears of being great.

-Tennyson
  'Hands All Round',1.31^2.

It is not enough to succeed.Others must fail.

-Vidal, Gore originally Eugene Luther Vidal,Jr
Quoted in G Irvine Antipanegyric forTom Driberg (1976).

For us, it is all right if the talks succeed; and it is all right if they fail.

-Zhou Enlai or  Chou En-Lai
On President Nixon's visit, 5 Oct.