Accomplishing More In Failures

In his award-winning Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy tells the story of George W. Norris of Nebraska.  Norris began his career as a country teacher on the plains of Nebraska, then a small-town lawyer, a local prosecuting attorney and judge.  In 1903, he entered the House of Representatives, and he was later elected to the Senate.  Kennedy describes him as a "chunky figure" clothed in "drab black suits, white shirts, and little shoestring ties."

Norris was an independent-thinking Republican who sometimes took up unpopular causes and fought uphill battles, saying, "I would rather go down to my political grave with a clear conscience than ride in the chariot of victory."

Interestingly, he lost many of his most anguishing political fights.  But years later, looking back over his life and career, Norris made this observation to a friend:  It happens very often that one tries to do something and fails.  He feels discouraged, and yet he may discover years afterward that the very effort he made was the reason why somebody else took it up and succeeded.  I really believe that whatever use I have been to progressive civilization has been accomplished in the things I failed to do rather than in the things I actually did do.

- John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage (Pocket Books, Inc., 1956)

There's Something Else in a Name

In 1958, a baby boy was born into the Lane family. Robert, the father, chose to name the boy Winner. How could the young man fail to succeed with a name like Winner Lane?

The Lanes had another son several years later. Robert named this baby Loser. Contrary to all expectations, Loser Lane succeeded. He graduated from college and later became a sergeant with the New York Police Department. No one feels comfortable calling him Loser. His police colleagues refer to him as Lou.

The most noteworthy achievement of Winner Lane, now in his midforties, is the sheer length of his criminal record — nearly three dozen arrests for burglary, domestic violence, trespassing, resisting arrest, and other mayhem.

Go figure.

 — Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, 
Freakonomics (HarperCollins, 2005)