It's okay to fail, and fail big. Failing is the thing that builds character. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
Tiffany Shlain
UC Berkeley Commencement 2010, 2010
Video starts at 0:00 — the moment this quote was spoken
The Story Behind This Quote
Tiffany Shlain — acclaimed filmmaker, founder of The Webby Awards, and UC Berkeley class of 1992 — returned to address the sold-out crowd of 11,500 at Haas Pavilion, the largest commencement audience in Berkeley's history. She built her entire speech around the idea of 'moxie' — a mixture of being bold, fearless, and a little outrageous. Drawing on her own career of taking wild risks in the early days of the web, she told graduates that failure is not something to fear but something to embrace. It's through failing big that you build the character and resilience needed to eventually succeed in ways you never imagined.