Ali Smith Quotes

There's nothing as exciting as a comeback - seeing someone with dreams, watching them fail, and then getting a second chance.

The starkest rejection letter might be followed by a million-dollar advance. Don't let rejection start to look the same as failure.

Nobody gets as many chances as I got.

Life gives you lots of chances to screw up which means you have just as many chances to get it right.

After five awful movies, I admitted failure and said I was not cut out to be an actor. But how many people get a chance to live their dream?

Rejection is part of the process, so you can't let it crush you. My first three novels never made it into publication, but my fourth, 'Sheltering Rain,' was translated into 11 languages.

I lucked out when I started to sing. I'd already experienced failing at everything else.

Better that you should take the chance of trying something that is close to your heart, you think is what you want to write, and if they do not publish it, put it in your drawer. But maybe another day will come and you will find a place to put that.

You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.

Conflict states just need someone to give them a chance. Nobody wants to be a failure.

I'll put it like this: When I was in high school, I would never win a popularity contest back then... it was always somebody else that got picked first for whatever reason. But all those people that went before me usually dropped the ball... then I'd get my shot.

I've been around a lot of greats I seen in this industry that have problems, but the comeback can be that much greater.

Fortune leaves always some door open to come at a remedy.

Winning often teaches you about losing and losing often teaches you about winning and a lot of things also happen by luck and you have to be at the right place at the right time.

If you don't give up, you still have a chance.

Most people with a big idea, great talent and/or something to say don't get lucky at first. Or second. Or even third. It's so easy to conclude that if you're not lucky, you're not good. So persistence becomes an essential element of good, because without persistence, you never get a chance to get lucky.

There is no such thing as overnight success or easy money. If you fail, do not be discouraged; try again. When you do well, do not change your ways. Success is not just good luck: it is a combination of hard work, good credit standing, opportunity, readiness and timing. Success will not last if you do not take care of it.

Engrave this in your brain: EVERY WRITER GETS REJECTED. You will be no different.

Sure, good things can go badly wrong. Nevertheless, there's always another day.

You have to make those mistakes. You have to do the work. You have to fail. I also realized that I should practice what I preach, which is that if you only do get one kick at the can . . . When you go to places like Africa or Asia or the Indian sub-continent, you realize that a lot of the people there don't ever get a kick at the can. There are no "kicks" at the can - you just don't have that shot.

Each failure to sell will increase your chances for success at your next attempt.

Success is not achieved by winning all the time. Real success comes when we rise after we fall.

You are fortunate if you have learned the difference between temporary defeat and failure, more fortunate still if you have learned the truth that the very seed of success is dormant in every defeat that you experience.

Great people are not people who have never fallen down. Greatness has to do with how you get back up.