--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Failure is easy to measure. Failure is an…" description: "\"Failure is easy to measure. Failure is an event.Harder to measure is insignificance. A nonevent. Insignificance creeps, it dawns, it gives you hope, th..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d1/charles-yu-3807_bed_failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an_3108534.jpg" --- # Failure is easy to measure. Failure is an event.Harder to… ![“Failure is easy to measure. Failure is an event.Harder to measure is insignificance. A nonevent. Insignificance creeps, it dawns, it gives you hope, then delusion, then one day, when you’re not looking, it’s there, at your front door, on your desk, in the mirror, or not, not any of that, it’s the…” quote by Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d1/charles-yu-3807_bed_failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an_3108534.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d1/charles-yu-3807_bed_failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an_3108534.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d1/charles-yu-3807_bed_failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an_3108534.jpg) > “Failure is easy to measure. Failure is an event.Harder to measure is insignificance. A nonevent. Insignificance creeps, it dawns, it gives you hope, then delusion, then one day, when you’re not looking, it’s there, at your front door, on your desk, in the mirror, or not, not any of that, it’s the lack of all that. One day, when you are looking, it’s not looking, no one is. You lie in your bed and realize that if you don’t get out of bed and into the world today, it is very likely no one will even notice.” [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote contrasts measurable failures with the subtle, often unnoticed insignificance that can creep into life, warning that inaction may go unnoticed but still erodes purpose. **In simple terms:** Failure is visible; insignificance is hidden and erodes purpose. Key Takeaway Recognize and act against unnoticed insignificance. Themes failure insignificance action purpose awareness Mood reflective serious thoughtful Type advice philosophical motivational When to use this quote - daily routine - career decisions - personal growth - mental health - relationships Key Concepts existential psychology motivation Questions to Reflect On - How do you notice subtle signs of stagnation? - What actions can prevent insignificance from taking root? A Different Perspective Insignificance may be hard to detect, leading to complacency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bed/) [Creeps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creeps/) [Dawn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dawn/) [Delusion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delusion/) [Desks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desks/) [Doors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doors/) [Easy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/easy/) [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Front door](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/front-door/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Harder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harder/) [Insignificance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/insignificance/) [Insignificance Nonevent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/insignificance-nonevent-5419465/) [Lying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lying/) [Measure Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/measure-failure-1986733/) [Measure Insignificance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/measure-insignificance-5419464/) [Mirrors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mirrors/) [Nonevent Insignificance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nonevent-insignificance-5419466/) [One day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/one-day/) [Realizing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/realizing/) [Today](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/today/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [“when you teach children to measure themselves from their success, they then measure themselves from their failure as well. Finally,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-s-dweck/when-you-teach-children-to-measure-themselves-from-their-success-they/) [Carol S. Dweck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-s-dweck/) > [“He was the measure of the failure of his father's body, and also perhaps a portending of the failure of his own.~”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilynne-robinson/he-was-the-measure-of-the-failure-of-his-father-s-body-and-also/) [Marilynne Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilynne-robinson/) > [“If you want to change how you see your problems, you have to change what you value and/or how you measure failure/success. As”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-manson/if-you-want-to-change-how-you-see-your-problems-you-have-to-change/) [Mark Manson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-manson/) > [Philosophic argument, especially that drawn from the vastness of the universe, in comparison with the apparent insignificance of this globe, has sometimes shaken my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-webster/philosophic-argument-especially-that-drawn-from-the-vastness-of-the/) [Daniel Webster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-webster/) > [A toothache, or a violent passion, is not necessarily diminished by our knowledge of its causes, its character, its importance or insignificance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/a-toothache-or-a-violent-passion-is-not-necessarily-diminished-by-our/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [If I've learned anything in twenty-nine years, it's that every human being you see in the course of a day has a problem that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/if-i-ve-learned-anything-in-twenty-nine-years-it-s-that-every-human/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [When human beings are regarded as moral beings, sex, instead of being enthroned upon the summit, administering upon rights and responsibilities, sinks into insignificance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angelina-grimke/when-human-beings-are-regarded-as-moral-beings-sex-instead-of-being/) [Angelina Grimke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angelina-grimke/) > [The earthquake, however, must be to every one a most impressive event: the earth, considered from our earliest childhood as the type of solidity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-earthquake-however-must-be-to-every-one-a-most-impressive-event/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Sometimes people stumble over this vastness in relation to the apparent insignificance of man. It does seem to make us infinitesimally small. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-piper/sometimes-people-stumble-over-this-vastness-in-relation-to-the/) [John Piper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-piper/) > [Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/fellow-citizens-we-cannot-escape-history-we-of-this-congress-and-this/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [“I feel I'm living in parentheses”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-wilson/i-feel-i-m-living-in-parentheses/) [Steven Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-wilson/) > [Anyone who thinks they're important is usually just a pompous moron who can't deal with his or her own pathetic insignificance and the fact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-thomas/anyone-who-thinks-they-re-important-is-usually-just-a-pompous-moron/) [William Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-thomas/) > [“In comparison to what I've suffered from myself, the humiliation and suffering inflicted on me by others vanishes into insignificance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-comparison-to-what-i-ve-suffered-from-myself-the-humiliation-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There is a magnificent intensity in life that comes when we are not in control but are only reacting, living, surviving. I am not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-callahan/there-is-a-magnificent-intensity-in-life-that-comes-when-we-are-not/) [Steven Callahan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-callahan/) > [“I have lost patience with the idea of an insignificant human being standing up above the rest of us--whether he is called Reverend or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-rogan/i-have-lost-patience-with-the-idea-of-an-insignificant-human-being/) [Charlotte Rogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-rogan/) ## More by Charles Yu > [“Probably it goes without saying, but time machine guys don't get a lot of action. Had a one night stand with something cute a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/probably-it-goes-without-saying-but-time-machine-guys-don-t-get-a-lot/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“Maybe I'd absorbed the capacity to hurt someone by listening to my parents every night, who were under the impression that turning the volume…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/maybe-i-d-absorbed-the-capacity-to-hurt-someone-by-listening-to-my/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“A life is about twenty-five thousand days, and a finding occurs about once every twenty-five thousand days. In other news, once in a lifetime.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/a-life-is-about-twenty-five-thousand-days-and-a-finding-occurs-about/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“We don't need the Good Life. The Pretty Good Life would be just fine.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/we-don-t-need-the-good-life-the-pretty-good-life-would-be-just-fine/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [For the past several years, I have gone to sleep every night in this same little pocket, the most uneventful piece of time I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/for-the-past-several-years-i-have-gone-to-sleep-every-night-in-this/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [Whatever the reason, first place was always Solo, always, always, always, and second place was usually Chewbacca, because if you weren't the one saving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/whatever-the-reason-first-place-was-always-solo-always-always-always/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“I hate everything about her except for the fact that I love everything about her.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/i-hate-everything-about-her-except-for-the-fact-that-i-love/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“My thoughts, normally bunched together, wrapped in gauze, insistent, urgent, impatient, one moment to the next, living in what I now realize is, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/my-thoughts-normally-bunched-together-wrapped-in-gauze-insistent/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“How many times before I finally convince myself, how many private, erasable deaths will I need to die, how many self-murders is it going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/how-many-times-before-i-finally-convince-myself-how-many-private/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“I know none of this seems very believable. It probably doesn't even make sense. But for once in your life, please, I am asking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/i-know-none-of-this-seems-very-believable-it-probably-doesn-t-even/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“My father makes to-do lists, makes plans, makes business plans. This is how he starts, always with a blank sheet of graph paper.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/my-father-makes-to-do-lists-makes-plans-makes-business-plans-this-is/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“It’s hard to have a relationship in this world. Other people are not the same from day to day. I might wake up next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/it-s-hard-to-have-a-relationship-in-this-world-other-people-are-not/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [Everyone has a time machine. Everyone \*is\* a time machine. It's just that most people's time machines are broken. The strangest and hardest kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/everyone-has-a-time-machine-everyone-is-a-time-machine-it-s-just-that/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“There are objects you may desire but cannot explain. There are objects that are not nouns, there are actions that are not verbs. There…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/there-are-objects-you-may-desire-but-cannot-explain-there-are-objects/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) > [“The sneaky heftiness of the book being the aggregate cumulative effect of hundreds of thousands of individually insubstantial little markings, letters and numbers, commas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/the-sneaky-heftiness-of-the-book-being-the-aggregate-cumulative/) [Charles Yu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) [Explore all 121 Charles Yu quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/) ## More Bed quotes > [When man of slender visits you / Nothing on earth that one can do / In well he’ll hide, or watery hole / And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-goldstein/when-man-of-slender-visits-you-nothing-on-earth-that-one-can-do-in/) [Jack Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-goldstein/) > [Your idea of fidelity is not having more than one man in bed at the same time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-raphael/your-idea-of-fidelity-is-not-having-more-than-one-man-in-bed-at-the/) [Frederic Raphael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-raphael/) > [The beginning of love is all about the butterflies, but the end of it is when you can't get out of bed in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-swift/the-beginning-of-love-is-all-about-the-butterflies-but-the-end-of-it/) [Taylor Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-swift/) > [Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread Through shadows to the edge of night, Until the stars are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/home-is-behind-the-world-ahead-and-there-are-many-paths-to-tread/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I wish I had as much in bed as I get in the newspapers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/linda-ronstadt/i-wish-i-had-as-much-in-bed-as-i-get-in-the-newspapers/) [Linda Ronstadt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/linda-ronstadt/) > [ Leave a cavity behind the \[wall\] facings, and on the inside build walls two feet thick, made of red dimension stone or burnt brick… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/leave-a-cavity-behind-the-wall-facings-and-on-the-inside-build-walls/) [Marcus Vitruvius Pollio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-vitruvius-pollio/) > [Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess over everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/why-couldn-t-jesus-command-us-to-obsess-over-everything-to-try-to/) [Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/) > [“To all the secret writers, late-night painters, would-be singers, lapsed and scared artists of every stripe, dig out your paintbrush, or your flute, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/to-all-the-secret-writers-late-night-painters-would-be-singers-lapsed/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [“In the parking lot, she drove and parked in a dark area with no other cars around. She reclined her seat, and listened to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tao-lin/in-the-parking-lot-she-drove-and-parked-in-a-dark-area-with-no-other/) [Tao Lin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tao-lin/) > [It wasn't really touching to be young; it was touching not to be young, because you had less of life left. Touching to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rose-macaulay/it-wasn-t-really-touching-to-be-young-it-was-touching-not-to-be-young/) [Rose Macaulay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rose-macaulay/) > [I have to meditate before I go to bed, always. I have to let the day go and let the eternal in.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bellamy-young/i-have-to-meditate-before-i-go-to-bed-always-i-have-to-let-the-day-go/) [Bellamy Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bellamy-young/) > [Sometimes by a woodland stream he watched the water rush over the pebbled bed, its tiny modulations of bounce and flow. A woman's body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/sometimes-by-a-woodland-stream-he-watched-the-water-rush-over-the/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [I think life is full of challenges and problems. I don't believe that anyone is perfect. We all make mistakes. It's not a bed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nigel-mansell/i-think-life-is-full-of-challenges-and-problems-i-don-t-believe-that/) [Nigel Mansell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nigel-mansell/) > [When I saw him I thought I could curl up inside him and go to sleep and never wake up." "Men are no good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/when-i-saw-him-i-thought-i-could-curl-up-inside-him-and-go-to-sleep/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [I always wanted to be a movie star. I thought it meant being famous and having breakfast in bed. I didn't know you had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/june-allyson/i-always-wanted-to-be-a-movie-star-i-thought-it-meant-being-famous/) [June Allyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/june-allyson/) [Browse all 4,159 Bed quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bed/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Failure is easy to measure. Failure is an event.Harder to measure is insignificance. A nonevent. Insignificance creeps, it dawns, it gives you hope, then delusion, then one day, when you’re not looking, it’s there, at your front door, on your desk, in the mirror, or not, not any of that, it’s the lack of all that. One day, when you are looking, it’s not looking, no one is. You lie in your bed and realize that if you don’t get out of bed and into the world today, it is very likely no one will even notice.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles Yu" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an-event-harder-to-measure-is/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Bed" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an-event-harder-to-measure-is/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d1/charles-yu-3807_bed_failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an_3108534.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d1/charles-yu-3807_bed_failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an_3108534.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d1/charles-yu-3807_bed_failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an_3108534.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Failure is easy to measure. Failure is an event.Harder to measure is insignificance. A nonevent…” — Charles Yu", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Charles Yu", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-yu/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Failure is easy to measure. Failure...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an-event-harder-to-measure-is/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-yu/failure-is-easy-to-measure-failure-is-an-event-harder-to-measure-is/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```