人只有死亡才是最后的失败。人只要活着，就还没有彻底失败。戴高乐曾经说过：“挫折，特别吸引坚强的人。因为他只有在拥抱挫折时，才会真正认识自己。”
世界上没有免费的成功。成功者无一不是战胜失败而来！成功无一不是血汗与机遇的结晶。人类很不容易才能获得成功，成功需要一系列的失败作为铺垫。人们一开始便遭到失败，接下来是一次又一次的失败，直到最后，一切困难都无影无踪，人们才取得了成功。一切发明创造都是经过许多失败的经历而后成功的。
要战胜挫折，就要学会积极的思考。科学巨匠们所以能够承受由失败和成功所带来的一切考验，并不是在他们身上天生就具有什么神奇的东西。而是他们对于自己所选择的事业的社会价值有充分的思考和理解；他们亲身经历了失败和成功互相转化的多次磨炼；他们又善于从学习和经历中，汲取营养和总结经验。所有这一切，培育了他们能正确对待事业成败的崇高品格。凡是人们依据客观规律，在改造客观世界中达到了预期目的，谓之成功，否则就谓之失败。失败和成功同世界上任何事物一样，都是两极相通、互相联系和互相转化的。正确认识成败的辩证法，可以在失败和成功面前，减少盲目性，增强自觉性。
成功的喜悦一定是由成功的努力伴随而来。法拉第曾说：“就是最成功的科学家，在他每十个希望和初步结论中，能实现的也不到一个。”英国科学家威廉·汤姆生，一生发表了600多篇学术论文，获70种发明品的专利，得到250多所学校和团体的荣誉头街，他回顾50年在科学进步上的奋斗时，竟用“失败”二字来代表自己一生的事业。这既是汤姆生的自知和伟大，也是他个人事业上最发人深省的总结。
译文:
As long as you are alive you have not completely failed
Only once a person has died can it be said that they have finally been defeated (metaphorically speaking). As long as a person is [still] living they have not completely failed. Charles De Gaulle once said: “Setbacks appeal to strong people since only when they can embrace the challenge can they truly understand themselves.”
There is no free success in the World. All successful people can triumph over failure1. They all take advantage of upcoming opportunities, and they are all willing to expend blood, sweat and tears to succeed2. Among humanity it is very difficult to achieve success. To be successful requires us to treat a series of failures as our stepping stone3. As soon as people start [an endeavour] they will meet with failure time after time. Eventually, however, there will be no trace of all the [past] difficulties. Only then can people achieve success. All inventors and innovators experienced many defeats and setbacks before they finally achieved success.
In order to overcome setbacks it is necessary to learn how to think positively. The ability of scientific giants to bear (and overcome) all the trials and tribulations brought about by failure and success, is not a mysterious inherent quality that they possess. It instead lies in their full understanding and consideration of the social value of the undertaking that they have chosen. Their personal experiences of both success and failure complement each other and make them stronger. They are also good at taking the positives and lessons learned from their experiences and studies4. This developed their high moral character, by which they treat success and failure (in their profession)correctly. If everyone is judged objectively, creating an objective thinking world, reaching our expected outcome can be called success, whilst everything else is called failure. Success and failure are just like anything else on Earth; i.e. polar opposites. They relate to each other and affect each other. The correct way to deal with success and failure is to treat them dialectically5. Thus when faced with success and failure, we can reduce our blindess6 and increase self-awareness.
The joy of success certainly comes from the associated hard work. Michael Faraday once said: “For a successful scientist, out of every 10 hopes and hypothesis less than one can actually be realised." The British scientist William Thompson published over 600 academic works in his lifetime, and he was awarded patents for 70 types of invention. He was also awarded top honours by over 250 schools and organizations. When reviewing his 50-year struggle for the cause of scientific advancement, he surprisingly used the world ‘failure’ to represent his life’s endeavour. This not only showed the greatness of his life and his self-awareness, but it is also the most startling conclusion of his life’s work.
Notes:
1 Literally: None of the successful are unable to triumph over failure.
2 Literally: None of the successful fail to take advantage of upcoming opportunities and none of them are unwilling to expend blood, sweat and tears to succeed
3 Literally: A cushion, something to rest on.
4 Literally: They are also good at drawing nourishment and general conclusions from their experiences and studying.
5 Dialectic: An ancient Greek philosophical theory which holds that the correct way to solve a dispute between opposites is through negotiation and rational discussion.
6 Confusion, misunderstanding