# quote "Failure is more beautiful than success."

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-failure-is-more-beautiful-than-success/86733>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 11, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-failure-is-more-beautiful-than-success/86733 "2001-10-11T04:08:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kmccallum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5fc32e/32.png) [@kmccallum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kmccallum)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-failure-is-more-beautiful-than-success/86733/1 "2001-10-11T04:08:22Z")

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Does anyone know who said “failure is more beautiful than success”? I seem to remember I read it in a newspaper, maybe the International Herald Tribune. I can’t find it in newspaper archives and famous quotation webpages haven’t yielded anything either. For what it’s worth, there were several other sentences after this one, and I think they contained the word “edifying”.

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**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-failure-is-more-beautiful-than-success/86733/2 "2001-10-11T05:38:43Z")

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Here’s something close. Is this it?

There is much to be said for failure. It is much more interesting than success.–Max Beerbohm

Haj

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**Author:** ![kmccallum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5fc32e/32.png) [@kmccallum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kmccallum)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2001, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quote-failure-is-more-beautiful-than-success/86733/3 "2001-10-12T06:27:07Z")

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Thanks. That may be it.