Did Bruce Lee Say Something About Glorious Failure?

 Did Bruce Lee say something about glorious failure?

Introduction

Recently I came across a social media post that claimed to quote Bruce Lee. The presumed quote was:

"Don't fear failure. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail."

This seemed suspicious, so I decided to investigate.

The Sources

Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living; Bruce Lee and John Little, 2000

I checked the Bruce Lee Library and other sources and found something like it in Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living, which is volume 7 in Tuttle's Bruce Lee Library.

"Don't fear failure. -Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail."

The italicized portion means that the editor, John Little, created that sentence. The "In great attempts" sentence matches the second sentence in the presumed quote. So, did Bruce Lee invent it, or did he copy it?

The Search

An easy Google Books search revealed the following:

The Works of Professor Wilson of the University of Edinburgh, Vol VIII: Essays Critical and Imaginative, John Wilson, 1857, p 404

A second review of the search results showed that a version of this quote has been popular for centuries. The 1857 book The Works of Professor Wilson of the University of Edinburgh, Vol VIII: Essays Critical and Imaginative contains an essay about Greek drama that contains the very specific sentence "In greatest attempts it is indeed glorious even to fail."  

I decided to see if the quote had an earlier origin. Thanks again to Google Books, I was able to trace it to an issue of the British periodical The Adventurer, published in 1754.

The Adventurer, Number 139, March 5, 1754, John Hawkesworth and Samuel Johnson, editors

This version states "the Adventurer can assert, upon classical authority, that in brave attempts it is glorious even to fail."

This reference to "classical authority" makes me think that perhaps there is a classical Greek or Roman author who stated this in a publication and language that would have been familiar to these 18th century literary giants.

However, for the purposes of this research, it is sufficient to show that this quote has been popular for centuries -- well before Bruce Lee copied it into his notebook.

Bruce Lee's Source?

Vince Lombardi: His Words, Ann Kannings, 2014

After getting past the so-called attributions to Bruce Lee, another popular source for this quote is the legendary National Football League coach Vince Lombardi. I could not find an authoritative source, so it could be folklore. For example, a 2014 book titled Vince Lombardi: His Words, by Ann Kannings, includes the "quote":

Vince Lombardi: His Words, Ann Kannings, 2014, Google Books search results

Ms. Kanning provides no attribution for the quote, and I can not tell if the book even has a bibliography. A search within the 2002 book The Essential Vince Lombardi via Amazon.com doesn't show the use of the word "glorious" either, yet articles like this 2012 piece in IGN leads with the "quote" and attributes it to Mr. Lombardi.

Given how popular Mr. Lombardi (1913-1970) was during Mr. Lee's life (1940-1973), it's possible Mr. Lee heard or read the quote in association with Mr. Lombardi and his coaching philosophy. 

It's also entirely possible that Mr. Lombardi had nothing to do with Mr. Lee, nor with the quote. Since I can't find a solid association of the quote with Mr. Lombardi, he could be just as much the victim of poor attribution as Mr. Lee. As the original quote is pithy and catchy, someone could have "assigned" it to Mr. Lombardi at some point, figuring it would be more popular with a recognized name attached to it. This is the same dynamic we see with other so-called "Bruce Lee" quotes.

Conclusion

This quote appears to have resonated with Mr. Lee, although it does not appear in other volumes of the Bruce Lee library. That makes tracking the source difficult, as volume 7 (Striking Thoughts) doesn't provide direct sources. I accept that editor John Little saw it in one of Bruce Lee's notebooks, though, and Mr. Little attributed it to Mr. Lee without recognizing its historical existence.

This is a common problem with "quotes" by Bruce Lee -- even those which do appear in his hand. 

Nevertheless, it is interesting to see that this quote is over 250 years old, and likely much older.

Update September 13, 2021

Be Water, My Friend, Shannon Lee, 2020

I just noticed that Shannon Lee said the following in her book Be Water, My Friend:

"Unfortunately, you still have to live with yourself and inside yourself, and that stuck place can feel terrible. So instead let’s talk about a couple of things to help motivate us to take action toward the dreams in our hearts. As my father said, “In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.”

As we now know, that was just a phrase Bruce Lee wrote in one of his notebooks, copied from another source or heard from someone like Vince Lombardi. Ms. Lee may have read it in the book Striking Thoughts, which is the most reader-friendly collection of her father's sayings.

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