Defeat
If there is any single factor that makes for success in living, it is the ability to profit by defeat. Every success I know has been achieved because the person was able to analyze defeat and actually profit by it in his next undertaking. Confuse defeat with failure, and you are doomed indeed to failure. For it isn't defeat that makes you fail: it is your own refusal to see in defeat the guide and encouragement to success.
Defeats are nothing to be ashamed of. They are routine incidents in the life of every man who achieves success. But defeat is a dead loss unless you do face it without humiliation, analyze it and learn why you failed. Defeat, in other words, can help to cure its own cause. Not only does defeat prepare us for success, but nothing can arouse within us such a compelling desire to succeed. If you let a baby grasp a rod and try to pull it away, he will cling more and more tightly until his whole weight is suspended. It is this same reaction which should give you new and greater strength every time you are defeated. If you exploit the power which defeat gives, you can accomplish with it far more than you are capable of.
挫折
生活中如果有任何一個因素可以促進成功，那就是從挫折中受益的能力。我所了解的每一次達到的成功都是因為那個人能夠對挫折進行分析，在下一次工作中真正得益。如果混淆挫折和失敗，你就註定會真正失敗。 因為不是挫折使你失敗，而是你自己拒絕從挫折中看到成功的方向和勇氣。
挫折並不可恥。在每個取得成功的人的生活中，挫折是家常便飯。但你一定要能夠面對挫折而不感到羞恥，能夠分析它並了解失敗的原因，否則挫折就是絕對的損失。換言之，挫折可以幫助解決它自身的起因。挫折不但可以為我們成功做好準備，而且沒有任何東西可以在我們的內心激發起如此強烈的想要成功的欲望。如果你讓一個嬰兒抓住一根竿子，然後試著把竿子抽出來，孩子就會越抓越緊，直到他們整個重量都依附于此。每次你被擊敗的時候，正是這同樣的反應會賦予你嶄新的更為巨大的力量。如果你能夠利用挫折帶來的這種力量，你就能夠用它來完成遠遠超乎你能力的目標。