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As stated in the book, the First Penguin award went to students who went out on a limb and failed! This came "from the notion that when penguins are about to jump into water that might contain predators, well, somebody's got to be the first penguin." So, even if there are failures, it brings experience. Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.

— Randy Pausch The Last Lecture (2008)

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Experience

More quotes by Randy Pausch

You obviously don't know where the bar should be, and you're only going to do a disservice by putting it anywhere.

The Last Lecture (2007)

If I could only give three words of advice, they would be, "tell the truth." If I got three more words, I'd add: "All the time."

The Last Lecture (2008)

Wait long enough and people will surprise and impress you.

The Last Lecture (2007)

Do not tell people how to live their lives. Just tell them stories. And they will figure out how those stories apply to them.

The Last Lecture (2008)

You get people to help you by telling the truth; by being earnest. I'll take an earnest person over a hip person every day, because hip is short-term, earnest is long term.

The Last Lecture (2007)

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Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

Oscar Wilde Lady Windermere's Fan (1892)

Oh who can tell, save he whose heart hath tried.

Lord Byron The Corsair (1814)

A gram of experience is worth a ton of theory.

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.

Rita Mae Brown Alma Mater (2001)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Randy Pausch (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.