Quote of the Week: Advice From Winston Churchill

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”  Winston Churchill.

Powerful words from a powerful man.  Words to live by.

“Success is not final.”

Do you remember the line, “And, they lived happily ever after” from your favorite fairy tale?  I thought that happened for real!  But, Winston tells me “forget it.”  Your success today is not permanent.  Your glory may be short lived.

“Failure is not fatal.”

I especially like this part because it tells me something in a “backhanded” way.  It tells me something I don’t hear very often from the mainstream population.  It tells me something I thought was forbidden but it’s not.  Something I though was a serious “no-no.”

It tells me it’s ok to fail.  Failure will not kill you.

Not, a message you hear every day.  I normally hear quite the opposite.  Things as follows:

• “Don’t do that, you might fail!”
• “You could fail and have to start all over again.  Don’t risk it.”

I like Winston’s message better.  He’s seems to be saying, “Go for it!”

“it is the courage to continue that counts.”

This is my favorite.  Winston seems to be telling me, “keep going, move forward, regardless of the circumstances.”

And, yes, he caveats it by saying it takes courage.  It takes courage to keep going when everyone around you quits.  It takes courage to pick yourself up after a nasty fall and press on with the task at hand.  It takes courage to fail and then start over.

Source:  http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/w/winstonchu124653.html