“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor”
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor” is a popular quotation that has been printed on many posters. American author Truman Capote (1924-1984) said in “Self-Portrait” (1972):
“Failure? Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. No, I’ve drunk that special hemlock, bit that bullet (especially working in the theatre) enough to now scorn it.”
The essay was reprinted in Truman Capote’s collection titled The Dogs Bark; Public People and Private Places (1973).
Wikipedia: Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons (September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984), known as Truman Capote /ˈtruːmən kəˈpoʊtiː/,[1] was an American author, screenwriter and playwright, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) and the true crime novel In Cold Blood (1966), which he labeled a “nonfiction novel.” At least 20 films and television dramas have been produced of Capote novels, stories, and plays.
OCLC WorldCat record
The dogs bark; public people and private places.
Author: Truman Capote
Publisher: New York, Random House [1973]
Edition/Format: Book : English : [1st ed.]
7 December 1974, Daily Herald-News (Port Charlotte, FL),, pg. 7, col. 2:
Thought For The Week: Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
30 December 1976, Delaware County Daily Times (Chester, PA), “Mature by communicating” by Thomas Gillespie, pg. 6, col. 3:
There can be no gain without pain; no birth without labor. I would truly be foolish if I didn’t constantly remember that failure is the condiment that makes success tasty.
Google News Archive
1 September 1977, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), “Shop with Sue,” pg. 8, col. 6 ad:
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
29 April 1982, Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), “Schaumburg” by Dalton R. Harold, The Herald Neighbor, pg. 2-S, col. 2:
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”—Truman Capote
Google Books
Truman Capote: Conversations
Edited by M. Thomas Inge
Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi
1987
Pg. 185:
Self-Portrait
Truman Capote/1972
From The Dogs Bark: Public People and Private Places (New York: Random House, 1974), 405-419. Copyright 1974 by Random House, Inc.
Pg. 189:
Failure? Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. No, I’ve drunk that special hemlock, bit that bullet (especially working in the theatre) enough to now scorn it.
Google Books
And I Quote:
The Definitive Collection of Quotes, Sayings, and Jokes for the Contemporary Speechmaker
By Ashton Applewhite, William R. Evans III and Andrew Frothingham
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
1992
Pg. 55:
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor. — Truman Capote
Google Books
The Executive’s Book of Quotations
Edited by Julia Vitullo-Martin and J. Robert Moskin
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
1994
Pg. 111:
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.”
TRUMAN CAPOTE (The Dogs Bark, 1973)
Google Books
The Quotable Graduate
Edited by Heidi Reinholdt and John Ross
Guilford, CT: Lyons Press
2003
Pg. 139:
Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
TRUMAN CAPOTE, AMERICAN AUTHOR
“SELF-PORTRAIT” (1972)