In our last blog – “Leadership and Learning (from Failure)” – we asked how servant-leaders can stay ahead of the learning curve.
One way is to learn from failure.
I suggested that the best leaders want failure to come, if it must, as quickly as possible. That way they can learn and move forward ahead of others.
My suggestion reminded our friend Matt Padula of a quote by American actress Tallulah Bankhead:
“If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.”
Inspired by Matt and Tallulah, here (in alphabetical order by author) are 15 great quotes about learning:
- “If you’ve told a child a thousand times, and the child still has not learned, then it is not the child who is the slow learner.” – Walter Barbe
- “I don’t divide the world into the week and the strong, or the successes and the failures… I divide the world into the learners and nonlearners.” – Benjamin Barber (quoted in Carol Dweck’s excellent book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success)
- “There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” – Willa Cather
- “Personally I’m always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” – Winston Churchill
- “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” – Peter Drucker
- “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” –Mohandas Gandhi (attributed)
- “Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned.” – Harold Geneen
- “I never learned from a man who agreed with me.” – Robert A. Heinlein
- “To teach is to learn twice.” – Joseph Joubert
- “A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering cold iron.” – Horace Mann
- “I am still learning [at age 87].” – Michelangelo (attributed)
- “The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.” – Gloria Steinem
- “We learn the rope of life by untying its knots.” – Jean Toomer
- “Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.” – William Arthur Ward
And here is one more, just for fun:
“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” – Mark Twain
Which of these quotes do you like best? Do you have any additions to the list?
As always, we appreciate your views. Thanks!