78 Quotes by Lincoln Steffens

We need some great failures. Especially we ever-successful Americans – conscious, intelligent, illuminating failures.

My father made with me one serious mistake which I see parents about me making. He got himself somehow into the awkward position of an authority; I thought he knew and was right on everything – for a while.

My father would invite me sweetly to come and sit on a stool at his feet, and, as I let myself trustingly down, he would gently kick the seat from under me – and laugh.

One improvement I have learned from my childhood experience with my father: I do not threaten punishment in the morning. That was awful. Late into the night I would lie awake tossing and wondering what he was going to do to me. Usually he did nothing. A quiet, impressive ‘talking to’ was all I got.

The unknown is the province of the student; it is the field for his lifes adventure, and it is a wide field full of beckonings.

Nothing fails like success.