11 Famous Failures that will Inspire You to Succeed

Failures in life can pull us down and make us want to give up. However, failures are inevitable when we are working towards something. Instead of feeling dejected and giving up completely, moving ahead would eventually lead us to success.

If you have faced failure recently and do not have the motivation to continue, here are 11 famous failures that would inspire you to work towards success.

The author of the famous Harry Potter book series was rejected by 12 publishing companies before her first book was published. When she wrote the book, Rowling was jobless, divorced and a single mother who lived on welfare. Today, she is one of the best-selling fiction authors and also one of the richest persons in the UK.

"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 have failed by default."
J.K.Rowling

Steve Jobs, the man who is the face of Apple, was fired from his own company. He went to began NeXT and Pixar, which eventually led him back to Apple. As CEO of Apple, Jobs launched an array of Apple products, the most popular being the iPhone.

“I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me."
Steve Jobs

Labelled mentally slow, Albert Einstein was expelled from school for being rebellious. He was also refused admission at Zurich Polytechnic School. Einstein went on to find the theory of general relativity and also won the Nobel Prize in Physics.

“Success is failure in progress."
Albert Einstein

Michael Jordan was not selected in at his high school varsity basketball team. However, he took failure in his stride and never stopped training. At the age of 21, he joined the NBA as a professional basketball player and went on to become “the greatest basketball player of all time.”

"I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."
Michael Jordan

The person who directed some of the most successful Hollywood movies was rejected by the film school of University of Southern California. Steven Spielberg has movies like E.T, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, etc. in his credit. He is also an Academy Award winner.

“Whether in success or in failure, I’m proud of every single movie I’ve directed. ”
Steven Spielberg  

The creator of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney did not have a smooth journey to success. He was fired from his newspaper job because of lack of imagination. He started a company, Laugh-O-Gram, which produced animation movies, which went bankrupt. Later on, he started Disney Brothers Studio (Walt Disney Company), which earns a revenue of $69.57 billion dollars.

“Faith is the most important thing. If you believe in something, believe it till the end, unequivocally and without hesitation.” Walt Disney

Oprah Winfrey grew in poverty and had a difficult childhood. She was also fired while working as a co-anchor for a news channel as the producer felt she was not fit for television. However, Oprah rose to international fame with the Oprah Winfrey Show, one of the highest-ranked talk show.

"I don't believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process."
Oprah Winfrey

Abraham Lincoln had a series of business, political and personal failures in life. Still, he pioneered a bill against slavery and also became the 16th President of the United States of America.

"My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure."
Abraham Lincoln

A Harvard dropout, Bill Gates' first company Traf-O-Data was a terrible failure. However, determination and passion for programming led him to begin Microsoft, which made him the youngest self-made billionaire in the world.

“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure."
Bill Gates

Stephen King

Stephen King was rejected by innumerable publishers before his first book was published. Today, he is known as the King of Horror and has sold more than 350 billion books worldwide.

"Optimism is a perfectly legitimate response to failure.”
Stephen King

The Beatles were told that they would never succeed. However, they went on to become one of the most popular musical groups in the world, while selling more than 1.6 billion records all over the world.

"Everything will be okay in the end. If it is not okay, it is not the end."
John Lennon, Vocalist and Guitarist of The Beatles