Failure has gone to his head.

Failure has gone to his head is a sardonic epigram attributed to Wilson Mizner, the American wit, playwright, and Hollywood scenarist known for barbed one-liners about ambition, money, and social pretension. Mizner moved in theatrical and high-society circles in New York and later in California, where his reputation for improvised quips became part of his public persona. The line fits the milieu of early-20th-century American humor in which conversational bons mots were repeated in newspapers, memoirs, and anecdote collections, often without a single fixed occasion. It is typically presented as a standalone remark rather than tied to a specific speech or work.

The joke reverses the familiar idea that success goes to someone’s head, making failure the intoxicant instead. Mizner implies that a person can become swollen with self-importance even when circumstances should humble them—perhaps by cultivating a martyr complex, blaming others, or performing a kind of proud defiance. The line skewers ego’s ability to thrive independent of achievement: vanity can feed on defeat as readily as on triumph. It also hints at a social observation—people may treat their setbacks as badges of distinction, using misfortune to claim moral superiority or to demand attention. The epigram’s sting lies in how quickly it punctures self-dramatization.