Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.

The saying defines success not as uninterrupted achievement but as resilience: the willingness to recover after setbacks one more time than failure knocks you down. It frames progress as cumulative persistence—each fall is expected, even normal, and the decisive factor is the repeated choice to continue. In modern motivational use, it functions as an antidote to perfectionism and fear of failure, shifting attention from outcomes to endurance and habit. Although often attributed to Oliver Goldsmith, the sentiment aligns more with later self-help and sporting aphorisms than with Goldsmith’s documented style and themes, suggesting the attribution is likely spurious.