if there is any single factor that makes for success in living, it is the ability to profit by defeat. every success i know has been achieved because the person was able to analyze defeat and actually profit by it in his next undertaking.

　　confuse defeat with failure, and you are doomed indeed to failure. for it isn't defeat that makes you fail: it is your own refusal to see in defeat the guide and encouragement to success.

　　defeats are nothing to be ashamed of. they are routine incidents in the life of every man who achieves success. but defeat is a dead loss unless you do face it without humiliation, analyze it and learn why you failed. defeat, in other words, can help to cure its own cause. not only does defeat prepare us for success, but nothing can arouse within us such a compelling desire to succeed. if you let a baby grasp a rod and try to pull it away, he will cling more and more tightly until his whole weight is suspended. it is this same reaction which should give you new and greater strength every time you are defeated.

　　if you exploit the power which defeat gives, you can accomplish with it far more than you are capable of.