Word.ws English Dictionary

success has many fathers, failure is an orphan

success has many fathers, failure is an orphan proverb: many people will seek credit for success, but few will accept responsibility for failure.

Proverb

success has many fathers, failure is an orphan

  1. Many people will seek credit for success, but few will accept responsibility for failure.
    • Success has a thousand fathers, failure is an orphan. Never mind.2025 June 14, Nigel Andrews, “They don’t come any bigger”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 13

success has many fathers, failure is an orphan meaning in Malayalam

success has many fathers, failure is an orphan in Malayalam

many will seek credit for success, few for failure
വിജയത്തിന് പല പിതാക്കന്മാർ, തോൽവി ഒരു അനാഥനും vijayattinŭ pala pitākkanmāṟ, tōlvi oru anāthanuṁ

Forms of success has many fathers, failure is an orphan

alternative formvictory has many fathers, defeat is an orphan
alternative formsuccess has a hundred fathers, failure is an orphan
alternative formsuccess has a thousand fathers, failure is an orphan

Origin of success has many fathers, failure is an orphan

Popularized by John F. Kennedy in the context of the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961).

Questions about success has many fathers, failure is an orphan

What does success has many fathers, failure is an orphan mean?
Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan means many people will seek credit for success, but few will accept responsibility for failure.
What is success has many fathers, failure is an orphan in Malayalam?
Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan in Malayalam is വിജയത്തിന് പല പിതാക്കന്മാർ, തോൽവി ഒരു അനാഥനും (vijayattinŭ pala pitākkanmāṟ, tōlvi oru anāthanuṁ). See Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is success has many fathers, failure is an orphan?
Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan is a proverb.

Words near success has many fathers, failure is an orphan in the dictionary

  1. succes de scandale
  2. succesful
  3. success
  4. success ballast
  5. success depends on your backbone, not your wishbone
  6. success has many fathers, failure is an orphan
  7. success is a great deodorant
  8. success message
  9. success messages
  10. success metric
  11. success metrics

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: success has many fathers, failure is an orphan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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