Failure
Overview
 
Failure refers to the state or condition
Condition
-Logic:* Logical conditional* Necessary and sufficient condition, condition of another means that the former statement is true if and only if the latter is true-Computer programming:* Conditions, a generalization of exceptions in exception-handling...

 of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. Product failure ranges from failure to sell the product to fracture
Fracture
A fracture is the separation of an object or material into two, or more, pieces under the action of stress.The word fracture is often applied to bones of living creatures , or to crystals or crystalline materials, such as gemstones or metal...

 of the product, in the worst cases leading to personal injury, the province of forensic engineering
Forensic engineering
Forensic engineering is the investigation of materials, products, structures or components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing personal injury or damage to property. The consequences of failure are dealt with by the law of product liability. The field also deals with...

.
Thomas J. Watson
Thomas J. Watson
Thomas John Watson, Sr. was president of International Business Machines , who oversaw that company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956...

 is attributed with saying "If you want to succeed, double your failure rate". Wired Magazine
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...

 editor Kevin Kelly likewise explains that a great deal can be learned from things going unexpectedly, and that part of science's success comes from keeping blunders "small, manageable, constant, and trackable".
Quotations

It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.

J. K. Rowling, 2008 Harvard commencement speech

Failure is not an option.

Gene Kranz, Flight Director NASA, During the Apollo 13 Crisis

In the lexicon of youth, which fate reserves For a bright manhood, there is no such word As – fail.

Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Richelieu, II.ii

Half the failures in life arise from pulling in one's horse as he is leaping.

Julius and Augustus Hare, Guesses at Truth, I

I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest.

John Keats, Letter to J. A. Hessey, 9th October 1818

Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.

Earl Wilson (columnist)|Earl Wilson, as quoted in 0 to Bitch in 10 Seconds Or Less : Quips and Comebacks for Quick-Witted Women (2005) by Amy Hatch, p. 268

If at first you don't succeed, cheat, repeat until caught, and then lie!

Unknown author, quoted in 0 to Bitch in 10 Seconds Or Less : Quips and Comebacks for Quick-Witted Women (2005) by Amy Hatch, p. 268

 
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