Can you name a single person from history who having failed persistently is worth imitating?

Question

All the answers deserve 10 points because they point to people in history who overcame their failures and went on to accomplish something with their lives staying true to themselves, so please forgive my pick because it is not reflective of any failure in the answers.

And the award goes to:

Answer 1

Alexander Graham Bell or Thomas Edison...Both worked on many failed experiments, but we obviously know how successful they were.

Most scientists, archaeologist, inventors spend much of their careers failing. Finding nothing. Over and over and over again.

If you can learn from the trials that you consider failure, you will be a better person, and therefore you should consider all of your trials a success.

Answer 2

Albert Einstein was a terrible student. I don't think many people would think he's not worth emulating.

Kepler, who was the man that suggested the planets orbit the sun in elliptical orbits instead of messy combinations of circular epicycles, came up with so many wacky theories of celestial motion that he was called "The Sleepwalker." He thought of Platonic solids and musical harmonies and about five other completely different ideas, then formulated Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion, then discarded it and went back to musical harmonies, then discarded musical harmonies AGAIN and went back to his elliptical-orbit laws. Isaac Newton saw those laws and used it to formulate his Theory of Universal Gravitation in the Principia Mathematica. So, while Kepler had no lack of crackpot ideas, he was responsible for the major groundwork behind classical physics. Newton said of Kepler, "If I have seen far, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." (I guess Einstein could have said the same, about Newton and Maxwell.)

Answer 3

Abraham Lincoln - he failed at nearly everything he tried until he was elected President of the United States - had he succeeded at some of those other things, we might never have been blessed to have such a great man be President at such a crucial time in our history...

Another recurring failure was Mark Twain - he failed at a number fo businesses and professions, and luckily found his niche in writing. He is the quintessential American writer.

Answer 4

Abraham Lincoln

Answer 5

Robert I, the Bruce (1274-1329)

Robert Bruce is surely the greatest of all the great Scottish heroes, yet the Hollywood movie Braveheart gave all the heroics to his compatriot William Wallace, making Bruce out to be nothing more than a self-serving opportunist.

However, it was the patience and cunning of Bruce that Scotland needed, not the impetuousness of Wallace, especially facing such formidable enemies as the English, first under Edward I and then under his son and heir Edward II. Bruce bided his time; he first had to establish his authority as King of Scotland. By the time of Bannockburn, he was ready.

Answer 6

Abraham Lincoln

Answer 7

Helen Keller, GW Carter, Lincoln, Washington, Edison

Answer 8

Thomas Edison.

Answer 9

Jan Ullrich, the German cyclist. In Tour de France he finished second to Lance Armstrong five times!
Captain Scott is a good one, too.

Answer 10

George W. Bush would be number 1 on a short list.