Learning From Failure

I just read Reg Braithwaite's post called What I've Learned From Failure. It's long and it's about software development, but a lot of the lessons he's learned can be applied universally. And he's got some really good quotes, which is how I ended up reading the article in the first place, thanks to a link from BusinessPundit. Here are some of my favourites:

"I have been fired from more jobs than most people have had." - Mark Cuban

"Argue with idiots, and you become an idiot." - Paul Graham

"Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield."

"“It is impossible to sharpen a pencil with a blunt axe. It is equally vain to try to do it with ten blunt axes instead." - Edsger Dijkstra

"We tend to seek easy, single-factor explanations of success. For most important things, though, success actually requires avoiding many separate causes of failure." - Jared Diamond

"There are two kinds of people in the world: those who finish what they started."

"If you compete with slaves you become a slave." - Norbert Weiner

and the one that got me to click the link in the first place, because I'm old Parrothead:

"If you decide to run with the ball, just count on fumbling and getting the shit knocked out of you, but never forget how much fun it is just to be able to run with the ball." - Jimmy Buffett

—Anybody with experience in project management will no doubt be nodding as they read Reg's excellent post.