Success covers a multitude of blunders.

The aphorism suggests that outcomes strongly shape how actions are judged: when a venture succeeds, observers tend to overlook the missteps, compromises, and accidents that occurred along the way. It plays on the biblical phrasing “charity covers a multitude of sins,” replacing moral forgiveness with the social amnesty granted by victory. Attributed to Shaw, it fits his satiric view of public opinion and reputational economics—how acclaim can retroactively sanitize a messy process. The line also implies a caution: measuring merit solely by results can reward luck and conceal poor judgment, while failure invites harsh scrutiny even when the underlying effort was sound.