I know acts and I'm not going to name names but these people sold ten million copies the first time and the second album sells three million and it's considered a failure and they're dropped and that's really a shame.

But whatever my failure I have this thing to remember - that I was a pioneer in my profession just as my grandfathers were in theirs in that I was the first man in this section to earn his living as a writer.

I made a very conscious effort to finish 'The Cypress House' before 'So Cold the River' launched because I thought that would help build a buffer between my writing and any impact that came from either the success or the failure of that first book.

But thankfully my first album 'Wide Screen ' was sort of a critics' darling - everyone raved about it but no one bought it. They only manufactured 10 000 copies I wasn't even in the running for failure!

Well I think first of all there was a failure to have real clear information at our disposal. There was a real lack of situational awareness. We didn't have the capabilities on the ground to give us real-time accurate assessments of the physical condition of the city.

My failure during the first five or six years of my art training to get set in the right direction and the disappointment which it caused me drove me the more persistently into writing as an alternative.

As soon as I did my first five minutes of stand-up I knew that I would rather be a failure at comedy than a success in marketing.

Of course Third World leaders love you. By ascribing third world ills to First World sins you absolve them of blame for their countries' failure to advance.

I failed first grade which is my biggest problem. You always feel like a failure like you're stupid.

At first I wasn't sure that I had the talent but I did know I had a fear of failure and that fear compelled me to fight off anything that might abet it.

For families across the UK who are income-poor but more than that whose lives are blighted by worklessness educational failure family breakdown problem debt and poor health as well as other problems giving them an extra pound - say through increased benefits - will not address the reason they find themselves in difficulty in the first place.

Most of us spend the first six days of each week sowing wild oats then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.

The failure of academic feminists to recognize difference as a crucial strength is a failure to reach beyond the first patriarchal lesson. In our world divide and conquer must become define and empower.

In high school in sport I had a coach who told me I was much better than I thought I was and would make me do more in a positive sense. He was the first person who taught me not to be afraid of failure.

A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms agains himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.

As kids we're not taught how to deal with success we're taught how to deal with failure. If at first you don't succeed try try again. If at first you succeed then what?

It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men kindness and generosity openness honesty understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest sharpness greed acquisitiveness meanness egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.

Remember the two benefits of failure. First if you do fail you learn what doesn't work and second the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach.

If at first you don't succeed failure may be your style.

A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.

Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.

I love music and after my first experience with movies I can't wait to do more.

For me it is just the total experience - from the time I first started as an assistant coach until I wound up at the University of Texas for 20 years.

So if I have two pieces of cake do I have twice as good an experience as the first piece of cake? One of the things I've found in life is that the first piece of cake is the best.