The uninspired correspondent scratches his scalp, but dandruff and lice, not words, fall onto the blotter.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Failure

Frm J. K. Rowling's 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech:


"On this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called ‘real life’, I want to extol the crucial importance of imagination."

"So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive... And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."


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From David Byrne on cities:

The generous attitude towards failure that big cities afford is invaluable—it's how things get created. In a small town everyone knows about your failures, so you are more careful about what you might attempt. Every time I visit San Francisco I ask out loud "Why don't I live here? Why do I choose to live in a place that is harder, tougher and, well, not as beautiful?" The locals often reply, "You don't want to live here. It looks like a city, but it's really a small village. Everyone knows what you're doing"



Link

2 comments:

  1. Did you watch j.k' s commencement speech? so true. Failure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I did watch it. One of the better celebrity commencement addresses I think. She managed to maintain the inspirational tone that most speeches aim for without AT ALL resorting to clichéd advice. Homerun.

    ReplyDelete

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