“No human ever became interesting by not failing. The more you fail and recover and improve, the better you are as a person. Ever meet someone who’s always had everything work out for them with zero struggle? They usually have the depth of a puddle. Or they don’t exist.” —Chris Hardwick
- Franz Kafka was not a widely renowned writer during his lifetime and told a friend to burn all of his unpublished works after his death, but luckily the friend ignored the request. Ranz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer based in Prague, who is widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typically features isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. It has been interpreted as exploring themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt, and absurdity. His best known works include the novella The Metamorphosis and novels The Trial and The Castle. The term Kafkaesque has entered English to describe absurd situations like those depicted in his writing.
- Amelia Earhart struggled to make a living as a pilot and had to work many odd jobs to support herself. Amelia Mary Earhart (July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.She set many other records, was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.
- Vincent van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime and died penniless in 1890. Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he created approximately 2100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold, symbolic colours, and dramatic, impulsive and highly expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. Only one of his paintings was known by name to have been sold during his lifetime. Van Gogh became famous after his suicide at age 37, which followed years of poverty and mental illness.
- Monet only achieved recognition as a painter after his death.
Oscar-Claude Monet ( French: 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of impressionism’s philosophy of expressing one’s perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein air (outdoor) landscape painting. The term “Impressionism” is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant, exhibited in 1874 (the “exhibition of rejects”) initiated by Monet and his associates as an alternative to the Salon. - Spielberg was rejected from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts multiple times before eventually being accepted.
Steven Allan Spielberg (born December 18, 1946) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director in history. He is the recipient of many accolades, including three Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and four Directors Guild of America Awards, as well as the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2006, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2009 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Seven of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” - Vera Wang failed to make the U.S. Olympic team as a competitive figure skater before becoming one of the most successful designers in the world. Vera Ellen Wang (Chinese: born June 27, 1949) is an American fashion designer. Wang initially pursued a career in figure skating before transitioning to fashion. She worked for Vogue and Ralph Lauren before launching her own bridal gown boutique in 1990.Wang gained international recognition for her wedding dress designs. Her gowns have been worn by numerous celebrities. She expanded her brand to include ready-to-wear fashion, accessories, fragrances, and home goods.
- Roger Bannister was told running a mile in under 4 minutes in 1929 was physically impossible and doctors warned his heart would explode.
The Wright brothers were told that it was impossible to create a flying machine by the experts of the day.
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile. Bannister went on to become a neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, before retiring in 1993. As Master of Pembroke, he was on the governing body of Abingdon School from 1986 to 1993. When asked whether the 4-minute mile was his proudest achievement, he said he felt prouder of his contribution to academic medicine through research into the responses of the nervous system. Bannister was patron of the MSA Trust. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2011. - Michael Jordan was cut from the high school basketball team.
Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His profile on the official National Basketball Association (NBA) website states that “by acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.”He played fifteen seasons in the NBA, winning six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls. He was integral in popularizing the sport of basketball and the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s,becoming a global cultural icon.
