As a young man, Abraham Lincoln went to war a
captain and returned a private. Then he was a failure as a businessman. As a
lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a
success.
He turned to politics and was defeated in his first
try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated
for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General
Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, in his efforts for
the vice-presidency in 1856, and in the senatorial election of 1858.
Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. He was subsequently defeated in every election for public office until he became Prime Minister at the age of 62. He later wrote, "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never, Never, Never, Never give up."
Sigmund Freud was booed from the podium when he
first presented his ideas to the scientific community of Europe. He returned to
his office and kept on writing.
Robert Sternberg got a C in his first college
introductory-psychology class. His teacher commented that "There was a
famous Sternberg in psychology and it was obvious there would not be
another." Three years later Sternberg graduated with honors from Stanford
University with exceptional distinction in psychology.. In 2002 he became
President of the American Psychological Association.
Charles Darwin gave up a medical career and was told
by his father, "You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat
catching." In his autobiography, Darwin wrote, "I was considered by
all my masters and my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common
standard of intellect."
Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too
stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being non-productive. As an inventor, he made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts
at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to
fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The
light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."
"Our greatest glory is not in never
falling but in rising every time we fall."
Confucius
