Failure is the mother of success

There is a view that the saying "Failure is the mother of success" is translated from French, for example Nguyen Khac Lieu wrote: "Failure is the mother of success (French)" - quoted from Proverbs, sayings and beautiful words (Ho Chi Minh City Publishing House 1999, p.12).

It is true that in French there is a saying "L'échec est la mère du succès" (Failure is the mother of success), however this is also a... translation, even the Vietnamese sentence is the same, both have their origins in the Chinese proverb: " Failure is the mother of success " (失敗為成功之母). Analyzing it, we see:

Failure (失敗) means "to lose, to fail", originating from the book Li Wei Gong's Questions and Answers, a collection of comments on military issues compiled by Li Jing during the Sui-Tang period.

Vi (為) means "is".

Success (成功) means "victory, finishing a job well", a compound word derived from the sentence "Vu Tich Huyen. Khue cao quyet thanh cong" in the section Vu Cong ( Kinh Thu ).

Chi (之) is "of, belonging to".

Mu (母) is "mother, female elder", an ancient character, found on Shang Dynasty Oracle Bone inscriptions.

In short, the sentence " Failure is the mother of success " means "Failure is the mother of success". However, "mother" here is not a mother in the usual sense, this word should be understood figuratively as "foundation, basis" or "leader". This sentence is used to indicate that only those who know how to learn from failure can achieve success.

According to researchers, the proverb " Failure is the mother of success " originates from a famous Chinese legend, "Yu the Great controls the floods" (Yu the Great controls the floods/大禹治水). Yu the Great is a descendant of the Yellow Emperor (the first ancient emperor of China).

During the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period, the Yellow River was flooded. The father and son Gun and Yu (Yu the Great) were ordered by the imperial court to control the flood. Gun failed many times in controlling the flood. Learning from those failures, Yu the Great led the people to fight the flood for 13 years and finally succeeded.

Thus, the origin of the saying "Failure is the mother of success" is about flood control, corresponding to the English saying Failure is the mother of success , however this saying is not popular in the English-speaking community. British and American people often use similar sentences such as: Failure is the stepping stone to success ; Learning from failure paves the way for success; Success is built on the lessons learned from failure. But the most popular sentence in English is Failure leads to success.

The Japanese also have a similar saying to China and Vietnam, which is 失敗は成功の母 (shippai wa seikō no haha), literally: "Failure is the mother of success". In addition, they also have a saying 失敗は成功の元 (shippai wa seikō no moto): "Failure is the foundation of success", quoted from the essay collection Blue Eyebrows ( Qīng méi chāo , 1943) by the famous female painter Uemura Shōen (1875-1949).

To conclude this article, I would like to borrow the words of journalist Arianna Huffington: "Failure is not the opposite of success, failure is a part of success" (Failure is not the opposite of success, failure is a part of success).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/lat-leo-chu-nghia-that-bai-la-me-thanh-cong-185241213221747267.htm