--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Every time. You know why? I want to fail…" description: "\"Every time. You know why? I want to fail. I work like a dog for twenty years so I'll have the supreme pleasure of failing. Never knew anybody like that..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/wallace-stegner-1352_cunning_every-time-you-know-why-i-want-to-fail-i_1921187.png" --- # Every time. You know why? I want to fail. I work like a… ![“Every time. You know why? I want to fail. I work like a dog for twenty years so I'll have the supreme pleasure of failing. Never knew anybody like that, did you? I'm very cunning. I plan it in advance. I fool myself right up to the last minute, and then the time comes and I know how cunningly I've…” quote by Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/wallace-stegner-1352_cunning_every-time-you-know-why-i-want-to-fail-i_1921187.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/wallace-stegner-1352_cunning_every-time-you-know-why-i-want-to-fail-i_1921187.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/wallace-stegner-1352_cunning_every-time-you-know-why-i-want-to-fail-i_1921187.png) > “Every time. You know why? I want to fail. I work like a dog for twenty years so I'll have the supreme pleasure of failing. Never knew anybody like that, did you? I'm very cunning. I plan it in advance. I fool myself right up to the last minute, and then the time comes and I know how cunningly I've been planning it all the time. I've been a failure all my life.” [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator deliberately seeks failure as a way to experience control and self-awareness, turning self-sabotage into a twisted form of achievement. **In simple terms:** Seeking failure to feel control Key Takeaway Embrace intentional challenges to learn limits Themes failure control self‑sabotage Mood confessional introspective Type philosophical psychological When to use this quote - career burnout - creative risk - personal growth - self‑assessment Key Concepts Existentialism psychology of ambition Questions to Reflect On - Why do you chase failure? - What can you learn from intentional setbacks? A Different Perspective Failure may not lead to growth without reflection. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Cunning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cunning/) [Dog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dog/) [Fail](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fail/) [Failing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failing/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Failure Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure-life/) [Fool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fool/) [Know how](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/know-how/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Last minute](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/last-minute/) [Lasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lasts/) [Minutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minutes/) [Planning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/planning/) [Plans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plans/) [Pleasure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pleasure/) [Supreme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supreme/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Twenties](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/twenties/) [Want](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/) [Want Fail](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want-fail-829279/) [Years](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years/) ## Related quotes > [In Los Angeles, they don't want you to fail, they want you to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-geffen/in-los-angeles-they-don-t-want-you-to-fail-they-want-you-to-die/) [David Geffen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-geffen/) > [ \[Marriage\] was the one thing I didn't want to fail at. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwen-stefani/marriage-was-the-one-thing-i-didn-t-want-to-fail-at/) [Gwen Stefani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwen-stefani/) > [Sometimes people just want you to fail. Except your really good friends. I've always known who my best friends were.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kato-kaelin/sometimes-people-just-want-you-to-fail-except-your-really-good/) [Kato Kaelin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kato-kaelin/) > [: Dont worry too much about what others think of you. There's always people who want to see you fail simply because they never succeeded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/dont-worry-too-much-about-what-others-think-of-you-there-s-always/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Even friends want you to fail. They'd get a good laugh if I fell flat on my face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-harwell/even-friends-want-you-to-fail-they-d-get-a-good-laugh-if-i-fell-flat/) [Steve Harwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-harwell/) > [No doubt other writers have often put a thing more brilliantly, more subtly than even a very cunning artist in words can hope to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ethel-smyth/no-doubt-other-writers-have-often-put-a-thing-more-brilliantly-more/) [Ethel Smyth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ethel-smyth/) > [There are lot of people who want to see us fail. It spurs us on... As players we have to feed off that and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stuart-dallas/there-are-lot-of-people-who-want-to-see-us-fail-it-spurs-us-on-as/) [Stuart Dallas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stuart-dallas/) > [People want us to fail because we have won the league so many times. United won the league long before I was here.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-jones/people-want-us-to-fail-because-we-have-won-the-league-so-many-times/) [Phil Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-jones/) > [“The secret to success is never to give a fuck about what anyone else says, because the truth is, they all want you to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ella-frank/the-secret-to-success-is-never-to-give-a-fuck-about-what-anyone-else/) [Ella Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ella-frank/) > [“If I'm going to fail, I want to fail trying.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffany-hawk/if-i-m-going-to-fail-i-want-to-fail-trying/) [Tiffany Hawk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffany-hawk/) > [You never want to fail because you didn't work hard enough.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arnold-schwarzenegger/you-never-want-to-fail-because-you-didn-t-work-hard-enough/) [Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arnold-schwarzenegger/) > [I wonder whats wrong with me. Sometimes I just keep wanting to go deeper and deeper into the world of self destruction. Like as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daul-kim/i-wonder-whats-wrong-with-me-sometimes-i-just-keep-wanting-to-go/) [Daul Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daul-kim/) > [Don't worry so much about what other people think of you. There will always be those people in the world who want to see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/newlove/don-t-worry-so-much-about-what-other-people-think-of-you-there-will/) [Newlove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/newlove/) > [Your enemies want to see you FAIL. If you give up on yourself you're just giving them what they want.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sonya-parker/your-enemies-want-to-see-you-fail-if-you-give-up-on-yourself-you-re/) [Sonya Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sonya-parker/) > [Don't worry about what other people think, There will always be people who want to see you fail, Because they can't succeed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rohit/don-t-worry-about-what-other-people-think-there-will-always-be-people/) [Rohit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rohit/) ## More by Wallace Stegner > [“I have to blame myself for not finding any way of reaching him, but I can't feel that either Ruth or I had anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-have-to-blame-myself-for-not-finding-any-way-of-reaching-him-but-i/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [No life goes past so swiftly as an eventless one, no clock spins like a clock whose days are all alike.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/no-life-goes-past-so-swiftly-as-an-eventless-one-no-clock-spins-like/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“within yourself, you became a grave for her as you were a grave for Chet, and you carried your dead unquietly within you. —”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/within-yourself-you-became-a-grave-for-her-as-you-were-a-grave-for/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Towns are like people. Old ones often have character, the new ones are interchangeable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/towns-are-like-people-old-ones-often-have-character-the-new-ones-are/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [By his very profession, a serious fiction writer is a vendor of the sensuous particulars of life, a perceiver and handler of things. His…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/by-his-very-profession-a-serious-fiction-writer-is-a-vendor-of-the/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“The creative writer is compulsively concrete . . . . His fictional house should be haunted by ideas, not inhabited by them; they should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/the-creative-writer-is-compulsively-concrete-his-fictional-house/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Hard writing makes easy reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/hard-writing-makes-easy-reading/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [You married me...but you didn't marry what you could make out of me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/you-married-me-but-you-didn-t-marry-what-you-could-make-out-of-me/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Wisdom. . .is knowing what you have to accept.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/wisdom-is-knowing-what-you-have-to-accept/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“His mouth is full of ecology, his mind is full of fumes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/his-mouth-is-full-of-ecology-his-mind-is-full-of-fumes/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [I gave my heart to the mountains the minute I stood beside this river with its spray in my face and watched it thunder…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/i-gave-my-heart-to-the-mountains-the-minute-i-stood-beside-this-river/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“Poetry ought to be a by-product of living, and you can't have a by-product unless you've got a product first .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/poetry-ought-to-be-a-by-product-of-living-and-you-can-t-have-a-by/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed; if we permit the last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/something-will-have-gone-out-of-us-as-a-people-if-we-ever-let-the/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [“Some people, I am told, have memories like computers, nothing to do but punch the button and wait for the print-out. Mine is more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/some-people-i-am-told-have-memories-like-computers-nothing-to-do-but/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) > [ “\[Y\]ou were too alert to the figurative possibilities of words not to see the phrase \[angle of repose\] as descriptive of human as well… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wallace-stegner/y-ou-were-too-alert-to-the-figurative-possibilities-of-words-not-to/) [Wallace Stegner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) [Explore all 251 Wallace Stegner quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wallace-stegner/) ## More Cunning quotes > [Charm is a cunning self-forgetfulness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-stead/charm-is-a-cunning-self-forgetfulness/) [Christina Stead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-stead/) > [Life is a battle of wits, and many people have to fight it unarmed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evan-esar/life-is-a-battle-of-wits-and-many-people-have-to-fight-it-unarmed/) [Evan Esar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evan-esar/) > [It is a pity that, commonly, more care is had--yea, and that among very wise men--to find out rather a cunning man for their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ascham/it-is-a-pity-that-commonly-more-care-is-had-yea-and-that-among-very/) [Roger Ascham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ascham/) > [The terrible immoralities are the cunning ones hiding behind masks of morality, such as exploiting people while pretending to help them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernon-howard/the-terrible-immoralities-are-the-cunning-ones-hiding-behind-masks-of/) [Vernon Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernon-howard/) > [That humanity and sincerity which dispose men to resist injustice and tyranny render them unfit to cope with the cunning and power of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/that-humanity-and-sincerity-which-dispose-men-to-resist-injustice-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Why do some die and some live? The answer was clearly, that on the whole the best fitted live. From the effects of disease…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-russel-wallace/why-do-some-die-and-some-live-the-answer-was-clearly-that-on-the/) [Alfred Russel Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-russel-wallace/) > [Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/art-is-the-final-cunning-of-the-human-soul-which-would-rather-do/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [It is sometimes necessary to play the fool to avoid being deceived by cunning men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/it-is-sometimes-necessary-to-play-the-fool-to-avoid-being-deceived-by/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [Treason and murder ever kept together, As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose, Working so grossly in a natural cause That admiration did not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/treason-and-murder-ever-kept-together-as-two-yoke-devils-sworn-to/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [“Till swollen with cunning, of a self-conceit, His waxen wings did mount above his reach, And melting heavens conspired his overthrow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-marlowe/till-swollen-with-cunning-of-a-self-conceit-his-waxen-wings-did-mount/) [Christopher Marlowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-marlowe/) > [Stratagem is the right hand of cunning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-william-curtis/stratagem-is-the-right-hand-of-cunning/) [George William Curtis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-william-curtis/) > [“When a man possesses the innocence of a child, we call him a fool. When a child possesses the cunning of a man, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/when-a-man-possesses-the-innocence-of-a-child-we-call-him-a-fool-when/) [R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/) > [“Would you like to sit?" Kellen asked her. "You'd better do it soon," Owen whispered close to her ear, "or I'm going to bend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/olivia-cunning/would-you-like-to-sit-kellen-asked-her-you-d-better-do-it-soon-owen/) [Olivia Cunning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/olivia-cunning/) > [I am defined by my will to survive, not by intelligence or cunning or money or good looks. The Creator didn't see her way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jaune-quick-to-see-smith/i-am-defined-by-my-will-to-survive-not-by-intelligence-or-cunning-or/) [Jaune Quick–to–See Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jaune-quick-to-see-smith/) > [A cunning mind emphatically delights in its own cunning, and is the ready prey of cunning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-brownell-jameson/a-cunning-mind-emphatically-delights-in-its-own-cunning-and-is-the/) [Anna Brownell Jameson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-brownell-jameson/) [Browse all 535 Cunning quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cunning/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Every time. You know why? I want to fail. I work like a dog for twenty years so I'll have the supreme pleasure of failing. Never knew anybody like that, did you? I'm very cunning. I plan it in advance. I fool myself right up to the last minute, and then the time comes and I know how cunningly I've been planning it all the time. 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