Failure & regret

What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it?

41 answers answered between 1930 and 2026

Add your answer

On the record

Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.

Read by field Everyone Science and medicine 4 Arts and letters 19 Politics and public life 13 Business and finance 2 Sport 3
Read by age Any age Before thirty 1 In their thirties 3 In their forties 5 In their fifties 4 In their sixties 9 Seventy and beyond 9
Order Earliest first Most recent Surprise me
George H. W. Bush 41st President of the United States, 1989–1993
If you really want to make a difference, whether it’s in helping other people, or whether it’s in fighting for your country, or whether it’s in the political arena, or journalism, or physics, you’ve got to persevere. You’ve got to understand that there are going to be some enormous bumps in the road.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2 June 1995 source ↗
Desmond Tutu Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town; chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Nobel Peace Prize, 1984
We received death threats, yes, but you see when you are in a struggle, there are going to have to be casualties, and why should you be exempt? But I often said, “Look, here, God, if I’m doing your work, then you jolly well are going to have to look after me!” And God did God’s stuff.
Recorded Academy of Achievement recorded interview, American Academy of Achievement, 12 June 2004 source ↗
Albie Sachs Anti-apartheid lawyer; Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
And into the darkness I said, “What happened?” and a woman’s voice said, “It was a car bomb,” and I collapsed into darkness again, but with a sense of euphoria. I’d survived.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, 3 July 2009 source ↗

0 answers from members

Nobody has answered this one yet.

More on failure & regret