I’d rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.

The line contrasts two kinds of “success”: a safe, minimal success achieved by avoiding challenge, and a potentially transformative “great” attempt that may end in failure. Schuller’s preference elevates courage, ambition, and moral seriousness over comfort and mere competence. The quote implies that failure can be honorable—evidence of striving—whereas success without effort can be hollow because it leaves one’s capacities and opportunities unused. In motivational terms, it reframes failure as a cost worth paying for growth and significance, urging readers to judge their lives by the scale of what they dared to pursue rather than by an unblemished record.