When Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now. Perplexed, Edison replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 3,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." And shortly after that, and after over 4,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb.
When asked about the failures he said, "I didn't fail 3000 times. I found 3000 ways how not to create a light bulb".