Thomas Edison, in his quest to find a replacement for the gas mantel experimented many times, devoted the majority of his time to this endeavor to the point that family and friends begged him to stop and one friend in particular said:
Thomas, what you are doing is ruining your life. You no longer spend time with your friends or family. You are becoming anti-social. No one wants a replacement for the gas mantel. Your experiments are taking you nowhere. You have already failed 10,000 times.
To which Thomas Edison immediately responded:
I have not failed 10,000 times, I have just succeeded in finding 10,000 ways it will not work.
Just the knowledge of this principle will make us better able to overcome the obvious disappointments that failure brings. Providing us with the silent strength to keep on going and continue to strive to achieve those things which are truly important to us. This is also telling us not to be afraid of failure. It is saying stare it in the face and positively do something about it. It will then eventually show itself to be, a bridge of some kind, for a future part of our success journey.
NEVER GIVE IN, NEVER GIVE IN, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, IN NOTHING GREAT OR SMALL, LARGE OR PETTY, NEVER GIVE IN.
As a result you and I reach up daily without thinking and flick a switch that results in the replacement of the gas mantel bursting forward with brilliance. Just imagine the world today without the light bulb.