Confucius — Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.Confucius
Attributed to Confucius
Glory, here, is not a clean record. It is the act of standing back up — again and again — that earns the word. The fall is assumed; the rising is the achievement.
If you have stalled, restarted, forgotten, and returned to your English a dozen times, that is not failure. By this measure, it is exactly where the glory lives.
Words that widen the world
Great honor, praise, or distinction earned by achievement.
Synonyms: honor, triumph, distinction
The glory was in finishing, not in winning.
To get up after falling; to move upward.
Synonyms: stand up, recover, ascend
What matters is how often you rise.
Common questions
It means true greatness is measured not by avoiding failure, but by recovering and continuing every time you fail.
It is widely attributed to Confucius (and sometimes to Oliver Goldsmith); the exact origin is uncertain, so we mark it as attributed.
Carry it with you
In your own words, what does this thought mean to you? Write three or four sentences in English about a moment when it felt true — saying it yourself is how it stays with you.
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