--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A motto I've adopted is, if at first you…" description: "\"A motto I've adopted is, if at first you don't succeed, hide all evidence that you ever tried.\" — Billy Collins" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/billy-collins-3004_adopted_a-motto-i-ve-adopted-is-if-at-first-you_1121697.png" --- # A motto I've adopted is, if at first you don't succeed… ![“A motto I've adopted is, if at first you don't succeed, hide all evidence that you ever tried.” quote by Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/billy-collins-3004_adopted_a-motto-i-ve-adopted-is-if-at-first-you_1121697.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/billy-collins-3004_adopted_a-motto-i-ve-adopted-is-if-at-first-you_1121697.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/billy-collins-3004_adopted_a-motto-i-ve-adopted-is-if-at-first-you_1121697.png) > “A motto I've adopted is, if at first you don't succeed, hide all evidence that you ever tried.” [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. If initial attempts fail, conceal evidence of trying to avoid embarrassment. **In simple terms:** Hide failures to protect ego. Key Takeaway Embrace transparency and learn from mistakes. Themes humor failure ego resilience Mood wry reflective Type satirical philosophical When to use this quote - personal projects - creative writing - career setbacks - public speaking Key Concepts self‑deception social perception Questions to Reflect On - Why hide evidence of failure? - What benefits come from admitting mistakes? A Different Perspective Concealing failure can prevent growth and trust. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Motto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motto/) [Success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/success/) ## Related quotes > [If u dnt succeed at first,hide all evidence that u tried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/femxzie/if-u-dnt-succeed-at-first-hide-all-evidence-that-u-tried/) [FemxZie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/femxzie/) > [If you don't succeed at first, hide all evidence that you tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-don-t-succeed-at-first-hide-all-evidence-that-you-tried/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-mckeeby/if-at-first-you-don-t-succeed-destroy-all-evidence-that-you-ever-tried/) Phoebe McKeeby > [“If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.” - Chloe Traeger”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-shalvis/if-at-first-you-don-t-succeed-destroy-all-evidence-that-you-tried-3/) [Jill Shalvis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-shalvis/) > [If at first you don't succeed, erase all evidence that you tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-at-first-you-don-t-succeed-erase-all-evidence-that-you-tried/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If at first you don't succeed, erase all evidence that you ever tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-at-first-you-don-t-succeed-erase-all-evidence-that-you-ever-tried/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If at first you dont succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-destroy-all-evidence-that-you-tried/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried." From Head Over Heels, by Jill Shalvis”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-shalvis/if-at-first-you-don-t-succeed-destroy-all-evidence-that-you-tried-2/) [jill shalvis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-shalvis/) > [If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-at-first-you-don-t-succeed-destroy-all-evidence-that-you-tried/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If at first you dont succeed,.. Destroy all evidence that you even tried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amber-faw/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-destroy-all-evidence-that-you-even-tried/) Amber Faw > [“If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried. ”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brent/if-at-first-you-don-t-succeed-remove-all-evidence-you-ever-tried/) David Brent > [His answer to every problem, every setback was “I will work harder!” —which he had adopted as his personal motto.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-orwell/his-answer-to-every-problem-every-setback-was-i-will-work-harder/) [George Orwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-orwell/) > [Azerbaijan unleashed the war, and was defeated in that war; Azerbaijan asked for truce (including from the Commander of Karabakh's forces) and later started…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/serzh-sargsyan/azerbaijan-unleashed-the-war-and-was-defeated-in-that-war-azerbaijan/) [Serzh Sargsyan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/serzh-sargsyan/) > [Somehow destiny comes into play. These children end up with you and you end up with them. It's something quite magical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-kidman/somehow-destiny-comes-into-play-these-children-end-up-with-you-and/) [Nicole Kidman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-kidman/) > [Amongst the financial Twitterati, the term 'muppets' has come to describe any client used and abused by some financial predator. I've adopted the term…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-ritholtz/amongst-the-financial-twitterati-the-term-muppets-has-come-to/) [Barry Ritholtz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-ritholtz/) ## More by Billy Collins > [“The whole idea of it makes me feel Like I’m coming down with something, Something worse than any stomach ache Or the headaches I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/the-whole-idea-of-it-makes-me-feel-like-i-m-coming-down-with/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [I think clarity is the real risk in poetry because you are exposed. You're out in the open field. You're actually saying things that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-think-clarity-is-the-real-risk-in-poetry-because-you-are-exposed/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [...pleasure, of course, is a slippery word… Our pleasures ultimately belong to us, not to the pleasure's so](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/pleasure-of-course-is-a-slippery-word-our-pleasures-ultimately-belong/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [I stared up at the ebbing quarter moon and the stars scattered like a handful of salt across the faraway sky...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-stared-up-at-the-ebbing-quarter-moon-and-the-stars-scattered-like-a/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [Death is what makes life fun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/death-is-what-makes-life-fun/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [A trouble with poetry is the presence of presumptuousness in poetry, the sense you get in a poem that the poet takes for granted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/a-trouble-with-poetry-is-the-presence-of-presumptuousness-in-poetry/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [You come by your style by learning what to leave out. At first you tend to overwrite—embellishment instead of insight. You either continue to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/you-come-by-your-style-by-learning-what-to-leave-out-at-first-you/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [But my heart is always propped up in a field on its tripod, ready for the next arrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/but-my-heart-is-always-propped-up-in-a-field-on-its-tripod-ready-for/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [I can hear the library humming in the night, a choir of authors murmuring inside their books along the unlit, alphabetical shelves, Giovanni Pontano…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-can-hear-the-library-humming-in-the-night-a-choir-of-authors/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [Every Day Is for the Thief is a vivid, episodic evocation of the truism that you can't go home again; but that doesn't mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/every-day-is-for-the-thief-is-a-vivid-episodic-evocation-of-the/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [Humor, for me, is really a gate of departure. 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But I'd say the hardest part is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/usually-the-poems-are-written-in-one-sitting-there-s-always-a-groping/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [I was influenced by the Beats because I actually just began to commit adolescence around 1955, when "Howl" and Rebel Without a Cause and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/i-was-influenced-by-the-beats-because-i-actually-just-began-to-commit/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) > [Some difficulty is warranted and other difficulty I think is gratuitous. And I think I can tell the difference. There are certainly very difficult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-collins/some-difficulty-is-warranted-and-other-difficulty-i-think-is/) [Billy Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) [Explore all 141 Billy Collins quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-collins/) ## More Adopted quotes > [Amongst the financial Twitterati, the term 'muppets' has come to describe any client used and abused by some financial predator. I've adopted the term…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-ritholtz/amongst-the-financial-twitterati-the-term-muppets-has-come-to/) [Barry Ritholtz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-ritholtz/) > [Somehow destiny comes into play. These children end up with you and you end up with them. 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Sayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-l-sayers/) > [A son or daughter in any human family is either born to or adopted by the parents. By definition, a child can't be both.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-bridges/a-son-or-daughter-in-any-human-family-is-either-born-to-or-adopted-by/) [Jerry Bridges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-bridges/) > [. . . by natural selection our mind has adapted itself to the conditions of the external world. It has adopted the geometry most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-poincare/by-natural-selection-our-mind-has-adapted-itself-to-the-conditions-of/) [Henri Poincare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-poincare/) > [I was adopted my black Americans, I feel that I'm a 'Hybrid'. When I'm around Africans'I suddenly feel very black American. And when I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kola-boof/i-was-adopted-my-black-americans-i-feel-that-i-m-a-hybrid-when-i-m/) [Kola Boof](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kola-boof/) > [I did this one movie with a great director named Wayne Kramer. It was 'Crossing Over,' and Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-chon/i-did-this-one-movie-with-a-great-director-named-wayne-kramer-it-was/) [Justin Chon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-chon/) > [I had severed relations with the Romanian exiles who had become politically conservative and even extremely right wing; I was giving chess lessons to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dumitru-tepeneag/i-had-severed-relations-with-the-romanian-exiles-who-had-become/) [Dumitru Tepeneag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dumitru-tepeneag/) > [People, the common people, can genuinely see what I'm doing. 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