Michael Leunig Quotes

At 49, I can say something I never would have said when I was a player, that I'm a better person because of my failures and disgraces.

It sucks to be the runner-up because I've been the runner-up for a long time in my career. I would get so close and then lose a huge movie and sometimes it's one kid who beats you out for three different movies. It's so frustrating at the time, but what's so great is the lesson you take from that, which is, 'I've got to get better.'

My failures have made me look at myself in a way I've never wanted to before.

He shrugged his shoulders to shift the pain of failure---the pain that is so much greater than the pleasure of success.

Losing feels worse than winning feels good.

Ambition is a very dangerous thing because either you achieve it and your life ends prematurely, or you don't, in which case your life is a constant source of disappointment. You must never have ambition.

Christ, seven years of college, down the drain.

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.

Success is not built on success. It's built on failure. It's built on frustration. Sometimes its built on catastrophe.

Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.

At Liverpool, I had almost everything but titles. I felt like a king, but the team was falling apart.

Losing hurts me. I was determined to be the best.

It's tough to strike out. Believe me. I hate striking out. It's no fun. It's embarrassing. But there really isn't anything I can do. It's just a part of my game.

Our best successes often come after our greatest disappointments.

Nothing is more humiliating than to see idiots succeed in enterprises we have failed in.

When you lose a game or don't play well you can't wait for the next one, because it soon disappears, the disappointment.

We need some great failures. Especially we ever-successful Americans - conscious, intelligent, illuminating failures.

Success is counted sweetest by those who never succeed.

It is always nice to get to finals, but never nice to lose in them.

We're far more defined by our mistakes than the things that we succeed at.

Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.

You don't have to be a brain surgeon to be a valuable person. You become valuable because of the knowledge that you have. And that doesn't mean you won't fail sometimes. The important thing is to keep trying.

There's always failure. And there's always disappointment. And there's always loss. But the secret is learning from the loss, and realizing that none of those holes are vacuums.

I remember when I was on 'Saturday Night Live' my first year, and I wasn't getting much. I was down; I was ready to quit.

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.