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