Turn Defeat into Victory
an opportunity to begin again, more intelligently
It was said in a sermon preached on August 12, 1849, by the famous British preacher F.W. Robertson.
Life, like war, is a series of mistakes, and he is not the best Christian nor the best general who makes the fewest false steps. Poor mediocrity may secure that; but he is the best who wins the most splendid victories by the retrieval of mistakes. Forget mistakes; organize victories out of mistakes.1
Henry Ford would have agreed with Robertson, because Ford defined a mistake as “an opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.” Joshua would also have agreed, because he is about to “begin again, more intelligently” and organize a victory out of his mistakes.
1 Frederick W. Robertson, Sermons Preached at Brighton, First Series (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., 1898), p. 66.
Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Strong, “Be” Commentary Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 94.
