If at first you don’t succeed, fail and fail again. Thomas Edison, born February 11, 1847, died October 18, 1931.

Here are a few of his quotes:

Hell, there are no rules here – we’re trying to accomplish something.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

I also found out that Thomas Edison was almost kicked out of school for being too hyperactive, asking too many questions — he was then schooled at home, with a tutor to help him learn what he most curious about: the world of science. Great minds never stop asking question.

The only way I can ever do anything is if I set out to fail. When you set out to succeed, the fear of failing will cripple your ability to take risks. So, set out to fail. Say – I’m going to do this thing and screw it up completely, but I’m going to do it.

I put together two dressers that came in the mail from Amazon. They were dirt cheap. I figured, how hard could it be? Especially if I was failing the whole time anyway? As it happened, I had to take screws out, put them back in, turn this piece around, re-screw it down – it was endless. And in the end, the dressers look pretty good. Only one of the drawers wouldn’t shut all of the way. So I tried, I mostly succeeded. I had two choices: be a total perfectionist about it and do it exactly right, or not do it at all. I settled on something in between: I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect but I was going to get it done. This basic philosophy might mean that you never really do anything really really well – but I think you do. Even if you want to do something well there isn’t any guarantee that it will turn out that way. Fail harder. Fail harder every day. Make mistakes. Make big mistakes, small mistakes, make them until they don’t matter so much anymore. I can’t think of any better way to go through life.