Ever Tried

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

A quote from Samuel Beckett’s Worstward Ho. A phrase that has been quoted in recent years as an empowering mantra used in speeches, tattooed on skin and the focus of motivational articles on the internet.

I personally like the quote in the context of motivation, the idea of accepting failure as a crucial part of growth, I think it’s a profound and true idea.

Unfortunately, the following sentences do call into question how motivational the text is meant to be.

“First the body. No. First the place. No. First both. Now either. Now the other. Sick of the either try the other. Sick of it back sick of the either. So on. Somehow on. Till sick of both. Throw up and go. Where neither. Till sick of there. Throw up and back. The body again. Where none. The place again. Where none. Try again. Fail again. Better again. Or better worse. Fail worse again. Still worse again. Till sick for good. Throw up for good. Go for good. Where neither for good. Good and all.”

The work of prose seems more like Samuel Beckett playing with the English language. John Tilbury describes the text as "a deconstruction, no less, of the grammar and syntax of the English language with an extreme economy of words, many of which are monosyllabic."

I do think there is a theme of perseverance in the text, but in a much more complex and interesting way than is conveyed with the usual quote taken from it.

This animation was trying to juxtapose the typical empowering idea of the quote with the almost nonsensical sentences that follows.