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The question

How has a setback or failure set you up for later success?
Frederick Sanger

Biochemist; twice a Nobel laureate in Chemistry, 1958 and 1980

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
They’re not failures, you try something and it doesn’t work, and some people, you know, get fed up with this, and I’ve known some of my friends and colleagues who have just decided to give up science because they can’t stand it, but I’ve always decided, you know, if it doesn’t work, forget it and start planning the next experiment, and that’s always exciting.

Academy of Achievement interview, 28 October 2000 source ↗

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Adam Peaty British swimmer; Olympic champion 2016 and 2021
When I lost that 100m final I spiralled. I went quite aggressive. It is an Adam I don't really recognise.
Recorded BBC Sport, 24 July 2024 source ↗
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Basketball player and author
I had self doubts when I was a freshman in high school. I was 14 years old and not very mature, and there were a few incidents in my freshman year. I learned in a very competitive environment. The high school environment that I played in was very intense, and I learned how to be stoic and go out and compete.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interviewer, Academy of Achievement interview, 1 January 1989 source ↗
Richard Feynman Theoretical physicist; Nobel laureate in Physics, 1965
It was a brilliant idea: You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish.  I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be.
Recorded Excerpt from “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman”, Engineering and Science / Caltech Magazine, 1985 source ↗
Steve Jobs Co-founder and chief executive of Apple; co-founder of NeXT; chief executive of Pixar
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. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
Recorded Stanford University 114th Commencement, Stanford News (Stanford University), 12 June 2005 source ↗

More from Frederick Sanger

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Question What counsel would you give your twenty-year-old self — and what should they ignore? Time & hindsight
Get on with it. But make sure you do want to do it. I think that’s the important thing, to be something that you would enjoy. If you only just go into science to get rich or to win gold medals, then I wouldn’t bother, but if you really want to enjoy yourself in the lab, then do it.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 28 October 2000 source ↗

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