When you’re working and you make mistakes, particularly when you’re young, you make discoveries because you do things that are inappropriate and wrongheaded, but within the wrongheadedness you find an unexpected way to go. These things are truly the breakthroughs.
Debbie Millman, Psychology Today, 'Brainstorm' column, 1 May 2009 source ↗
I was prepared to fail. I was prepared to not be able to get things accepted, because I saw that happen to my mother.
Don't be scared of the ‘what ifs,’ because the truth is, the only failure is not trying. That's the only way you can fail. Trying and having it not work out isn't failure.
No, no. Well, you know, biology is such a complex system. It’s totally different from the engineering. We cannot design. Many people tried to find the therapy for cancer, but all failed. And myself, I never expected my research, working on the immune system, would lead to the cancer therapy. But, in a sense, I’m very fortunate that I also thought about it. You know, you have to try many things and if you’re lucky you can hit, but you have to pursue. That’s my feeling.
Yeah. It’s a grandiose reaction. You are claiming you could really control this, but you failed.
Richard Leakey, Michael Rosbash, John Updike, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Robert S. Langer, Nora Ephron
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