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Anonymous Coward writes:

"In a timely way for those of us building a new community at Soylent News, the BBC has collected musings on the importance of failure. A few quotes:

'The quest for perfectionism is 'the enemy of achievement' and that the more we seek to get everything exactly right, the less we actually get done.' Heather Hainbury, Headmistress of Wimbledon High School.

'If the failure was our own fault we become more tolerant of human error, and if the failure was the result of external factors, of circumstance, an unkind coalition beyond our control, then we learn about the limits of willpower and self-determination. We see how our own agency interacts with context and fortune.' Ed Smith, Author and former professional cricketer.

'If your venture doesn't work out, but you did everything you could to make it a success, that's what we call an honest failure, and that's seen as an honourable thing... Whereas if your venture didn't work out because you spent too much time at networking events, you weren't doing your customer research, and you were just lazing around, then that's what we would call a dishonest failure.' Stewart McTavish, Director of IdeaSpace in Cambridge, a community and support network for entrepreneurs."