36 Positive Life Quotes About Learning from Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes are an unavoidable part of life. They are also powerful teachers. While mistakes and failure may create setbacks, if you use them wisely, they can reorient you in the right direction and seed growth, resilience, and innovation.

This collection of quotes highlights the wisdom, insight, and motivation that come from embracing and learning from your mistakes.

And to help you move mistakes off your dreaded-things list, I'll point you toward resources for Reframing Mistakes and Failure CBT Worksheets.

What's in This Post

Changing the Narrative: Reframing Mistakes Through CBT

Before diving into inspiring, motivational, and insightful quotes about learning from mistakes, I'll mention some resources to help turn the inspiration into action using reframing.

Reframing is a key technique in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It helps people who have a negative relationship with mistakes and failure reframe how they see errors.

Reframing acknowledges the downsides of mistakes. It just allows you to see the potential upside too. It helps you focus on what can be gained from the mistake, rather than dwelling on negative judgements about yourself or the situation. 

To make reframing easier and more doable, I created worksheets that: 

• Explain reframing

• Help you identify faulty thoughts that put a negative counter-productive spin on mistakes

• Take you through a 4-step process for working with mistakes and failure to better your life

2 Ways to Get My Reframing Mistakes & Failure Worksheets

My reframing mistakes and failure worksheets are available in two formats (well, actually three since the downloadable pdf version can be printed or used as a digital fillable form):

1. Part of a comprehensive print workbook with lots more info and exercises to uplevel your life

2. 14-page downloadable single-subject pdf that can be printed or used digitally

1. Inspirational Thoughts on Mistakes

Here's a couple of thought-provoking quotes about mistakes to inspire you, lift you up, and spur you on. 

"You make mistakes to learn how to get to the good stuff." –Quincy Jones

"The greatest of all mistakes is to do nothing because you can only do a little." –Liz Smith

2. Famous Quotes on Mistakes and Failure

Throughout history, scientists, innovators, and leaders have emphasized the importance of learning from mistakes and failure, not letting them stop you. 

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." –Albert Einstein

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." –Henry Ford

Getting up after a setback takes courage and perseverance, so a bonus of embracing failure is it stretches those virtue muscles and adds to resilience.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it’s the courage to continue that counts." –Winston Churchill

3. It's Not Just You: Everyone Makes Mistakes

Imagining that mistakes only happen to a small fraction of people creates the illusion that they are signs of inferiority. It makes it difficult to admit to a mistake.

Life is much better when you change your mindset to one that recognizes mistakes, big and small, happen to everyone.

I ran an experiment to test my theory that most people make at least one mistake a day. I started tracking my first mistake each day. I stopped the experiment about 5 days in because it was so clear my theory was correct. 

Embrace your fallibility. 

"Life is full of mistakes; they make the journey worth it." –Nadia Comaneci

"Generally, I like making my own mistakes and learning from them because that’s what I think life is about." –Taylor Momsen

"You try to avoid mistakes, but the biggest mistake is avoiding situations where you might make them." –Peter McWilliams

4. Learning from Mistakes: Quotes About Growth from Errors

Mistakes are inevitable. The question is "How do you use them to make your life better?"

"Making mistakes is part of the process. It’s how you learn and grow." –Laverne Cox

5. Yours and Theirs: Lessons Learned from Mistakes Quotes

Lessons learned from errors are often the most powerful. Missteps--yours and other people's--can be valuable teachers if you let them. 

(Love the humorous twist in the second quote here. :)

"The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." –John Powell

"You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself." – Sam Levenson

6. What Creatives Say: Motivational Quotes on Making Mistakes

Mistakes are part of creativity, often leading to unexpected brilliance. Perfectionism is a creativity-killer, as fear of making a mistake gets in the way of trying something that might get messy. 

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." –Scott Adams (Creator of the Dilbert comic strip)

7. It Takes Humility to Learn from Mistakes

Reflecting on past mistakes allows you to make meaningful improvements. We can't improve ourselves without admitting that we made a mistake.

When we pretend nothing is wrong, there's nothing to fix--so we keep doing what we're doing. 

"Looking inward and understanding where you made mistakes helps you set up for change." –Steve Ells

Admitting a mistake takes humility: the acknowledgement that you are human and therefore make mistakes. It can also take courage. 

"I feel myself becoming the fearless person I have dreamt of being. Have I arrived? No. But I’m constantly evolving and challenging myself to be unafraid to make mistakes." –Janelle Monae

8. Wisdom from Mistakes: Insights for Growth

It's difficult to become wise without some trial and error. And it's difficult (probably impossible) to become good at something without a phase of trying to improve yourself through experience. 

Allowing yourself the space to make mistakes is essential to mastering anything new. It fuels curiosity and is an integral part of new discoveries. 

"Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom." –Phyllis Theroux

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." –Thomas Edison

9. Overcoming Failure Quotes

Failures and mistakes are not endpoints but opportunities to rise stronger. These ideas encourage resilience in the face of setbacks.

"Do not be embarrassed by your failures; learn from them and start again." –Richard Branson

"Mistakes can teach you how to approach life differently. There’s no shame in falling, only in failing to rise." –Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

10. Personal Growth Through Mistakes Sayings

Personal development often involves taking risks and learning from errors. These quotes may encourage you to address fears that stunt your growth. 

(If fear tends to get in your way, you may find this post helpful: How to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone.)

11. Building Resilience: Mistake Recovery Quotes

Recovering from our mistakes is part of what shapes us. It builds resilience to help you bounce back when you're met with future challenges. 

"It is not our mistakes that define who we are; it is how we recover from those mistakes." –Bo Bennett

As learning from mistakes helps you become something more than you were, you can pass on that increased strength and wisdom to others. 

"Failure is a great teacher, and I think when you make mistakes and recover from them, you’ve got something to share." –Steve Harvey

12. Insightful Quotes on Errors and Learning

If you are going to step into the game, you need to be willing to make mistakes and learn from them.

"Football is a game you cannot play without making mistakes." –Jurgen Klopp

"My life is full of mistakes. They’re like pebbles that make a good road." –Beatrice Wood

"It’s okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are our teachers--they help us to learn." –John Bradshaw

13. Brené Brown: Positive Outcomes from Failure Quote

Brené Brown has a way of saying things that gets right to the point. (For more of her insights, check out another one of my posts: Brene Brown Vulnerability Definition and Quotes.)

"There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period." –Brené Brown

14. Looking Back to Move Forward: Reflection on Mistakes Quotations

Reflecting on mistakes helps us grow wiser. These thoughts highlight the importance of looking back to learn how to best move forward.

"Learn from your mistakes and build on your successes." –John C. Calhoun

"Every failure is a step to success." –William Whewell

15. Life Lessons Through Mistakes Sayings

People who can't allow themselves to make mistakes are held back from achieving their potential.

"Experience is making mistakes and learning from them." –Bill Ackman

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." –Robert (Bobby) F. Kennedy

16. The Power of Trying: Embracing Mistakes and Failure

For those who fear making mistakes, the act of trying can feel overwhelming.

In my post Try is Not a 4-letter Word, I discuss how an anti-trying mindset can damage confidence and lead to paralyzing anxiety. I also provide tips for to help you give trying a try. 

In reality, embracing trying, mistakes, and failure are essential for you to reach your potential.

"If you don’t make mistakes, you aren’t really trying." –Coleman Hawkins

"Failure is good. It’s fertilizer. Everything I’ve learned about coaching, I’ve learned from making mistakes." –Rick Pitino

17. Bono and Mandela: Resilience After Failure 

True resilience is shown by those who rise again after they fall. Bono and Mandela remind us that overcoming failure builds inner strength.

"My heroes are the ones who survived doing it wrong, who made mistakes, but recovered from them." –Bono

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." –Nelson Mandela

Mistakes may feel intimidating, but they’re essential for growth and self-discovery. Each of these perspectives serves as a reminder that every misstep offers a lesson, and every failure can bring you closer to your goals.

I hope these words inspire you to view errors as valuable experiences on the road to a better, happier, more successful life.

Help is On the Way: Reframing Mistakes and Failure CBT Worksheets

My reframing mistakes and failures worksheets guide you through the steps of owning, learning from, using, and letting go of mistakes and failure.

With practical examples and exercises, they are designed to help you break free from negative beliefs about errors and setbacks helping you build resilience, confidence, and a more balanced perspective.

Building Skills to Uplevel Life: Silver Lining Emotional Intelligence Workbook

Reframing mistakes and failure tips and tools are among the many life hacks in my Building Skills to Uplevel Life: Silver Lining Emotional Intelligence Workbook. 

Reframing Mistakes & Failure: CBT Coping Skills Workbook

This downloadable pdf workbook can be printed or used on your phone, tablet, or computer as a fillable form. 

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