I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. – Thomas Edison

This quote is similar to another quote by Thomas Edison : Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Thus you can get what made Edison special, and how he basically forced luck to smile for him through perseverance.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

– Thomas Edison

About the specific quote, and this quote was concerning the incandescent light bulb, is a good way to see things with optimism, and to persevere to accomplish the goal. And it is true that you learn from your mistakes, thus knowing what doesn’t work, helps you learn what does.

However, this quote is specific to what Thomas was doing, a search for an optimal light bulb, in which iteration was possible and fast, thus the so called 10,000 tries. Thus does not apply to all businesses and research, sometimes it is better to just fail fast, especially if the iteration is costly and slow.