For Samuel Beckett, failure was the ultimate goal of art. As he wrote in Three Dialogues: ‘to be an artist is to fail, as no other dare fail, that failure is his world and the shrink from it desertion’.
His works play constantly with failure of narrative, dialogue and language itself. Failure is not an end point; it is an essential part of a cyclical process. Beckett failed again and again during his writing, as it evident from his manuscripts.
Only the faintest hope glimmers in the darkness of this quotation. The secret is to. Things differently. Innovate, engage in the evolutionary process without knowing which direction is the right one. There is only trial and error, and there is no ultimate point at which you will reach the utopia of success.
If you are lucky, one failure will be marginally less devastating that the one before. No matter. Have compassion. Do not baulk at the the impossible absurdity of life.
Like Beckett, we must learn to never to succumb to the misery that failure threatens, but keep plugging away. That is the tragicomedy of this quotation, and the beauty of Beckett’s mind.
Ever tried, ever failed?
No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
For Samuel Beckett, failure was the ultimate goal of art. As he wrote in Three Dialogues: ‘to be an artist is to fail, as no other dare fail, that failure is his world and the shrink from it desertion’.
His works play constantly with failure of narrative, dialogue and language itself. Failure is not an end point; it is an essential part of a cyclical process. Beckett failed again and again during his writing, as it evident from his manuscripts.
Only the faintest hope glimmers in the darkness of this quotation. The secret is to. Things differently. Innovate, engage in the evolutionary process without knowing which direction is the right one. There is only trial and error, and there is no ultimate point at which you will reach the utopia of success.
If you are lucky, one failure will be marginally less devastating that the one before. No matter. Have compassion. Do not baulk at the the impossible absurdity of life.
Like Beckett, we must learn to never to succumb to the misery that failure threatens, but keep plugging away. That is the tragicomedy of this quotation, and the beauty of Beckett’s mind.
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