---
title: "2 Fail Time Quotes By John Backus"
description: "2 Fail Time quotes by John Backus. Plus more from John Backus and more Fail Time sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/256/john-backus-51872_doe_you-need-the-willingness-to-fail-all-the_1158018.png"
---

> [You need the willingness to fail all the time. You have to generate many ideas and then you have to work very hard only to discover that they don’t work. And you keep doing that over and over until you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-backus/you-need-the-willingness-to-fail-all-the-time-you-have-to-generate/)

[John Backus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-backus/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/256/john-backus-51872_doe_you-need-the-willingness-to-fail-all-the_1158018.png)

> [You need the willingness to fail all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-backus/you-need-the-willingness-to-fail-all-the-time/)

[John Backus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-backus/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c59/john-backus-51872_fail_you-need-the-willingness-to-fail-all-the_1965456.png)

## More by John Backus

> [You need the willingness to fail all the time. You have to generate many ideas and then you have to work very hard only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-backus/you-need-the-willingness-to-fail-all-the-time-you-have-to-generate/)

[John Backus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-backus/)

> [They don't like thinking in medical school. They memorize - that's all they want you to do. You must not think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-backus/they-don-t-like-thinking-in-medical-school-they-memorize-that-s-all/)

[John Backus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-backus/)

> [Von Neumann languages do not have useful properties for reasoning about programs. Axiomatic and denotational semantics are precise tools for describing and understanding conventional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-backus/von-neumann-languages-do-not-have-useful-properties-for-reasoning/)

[John Backus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-backus/)

> [You need the willingness to fail all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-backus/you-need-the-willingness-to-fail-all-the-time/)

[John Backus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-backus/)

> [Much of my work has come from being lazy. I didn't like writing programs, and so, when I was working on the IBM 701…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-backus/much-of-my-work-has-come-from-being-lazy-i-didn-t-like-writing/)

[John Backus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-backus/)

> [Much of my work has come from being lazy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-backus/much-of-my-work-has-come-from-being-lazy/)

[John Backus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-backus/)

> [I, myself, have had many failures and I've learned that if you are not failing a lot, you are probably not being as creative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-backus/i-myself-have-had-many-failures-and-i-ve-learned-that-if-you-are-not/)

[John Backus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-backus/)

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