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Who really said it

Failure is impossible

Spoken by Susan B. Anthony 1820–1906 · American suffrage campaigner
Verified Free to reuse

Anna Howard Shaw’s The Story of a Pioneer reports that Anthony ended her final public appeal with these three words. Wikiquote and the Speaking While Female speech transcription place the address at the Baltimore suffrage convention on February 15, 1906. Shaw’s recollection is evidence of the utterance, not proof Anthony invented the three-word phrase.

Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Verified quote & credit

“Failure is impossible” Susan B. Anthony, final public suffrage appeal, February 15, 1906; preserved in Anna Howard Shaw’s recollection.

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Evoking the world of Susan B. Anthony — American suffrage campaigner. Theme: "Failure is impossible". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The source

Evidence
Final public suffrage appeal, reported in The Story of a Pioneer
Status
Exact wording documented

Failure is impossible.

Shaw memoir, chapter X

How we verified this

  • Anna Howard Shaw’s The Story of a Pioneer reports that Anthony ended her final public appeal with these three words. Wikiquote and the Speaking While Female speech transcription place the address at the Baltimore suffrage convention on February 15, 1906. Shaw’s recollection is evidence of the utterance, not proof Anthony invented the three-word phrase. Shaw memoir, chapter X ↗
  • Gives the words within a longer suffrage appeal and cites the February 15, 1906 speech. Wikiquote source reference ↗
Public domain

The words are preserved as a 1906 address and in Shaw’s early twentieth-century memoir, available as a public-domain Gutenberg text.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Context

The setting behind the words

The words close an appeal to women to continue the suffrage campaign. Shaw describes Anthony speaking despite weakness and asking others to carry on the cause. The historical setting is political organizing, not a general promise that every personal undertaking must succeed. Shaw memoir, chapter X ↗

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Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Shaw memoir, chapter Xwww.gutenberg.org

Shaw explicitly recalls Anthony ending her final public address with these words.
Wikiquote source referenceen.wikiquote.org

Gives the words within a longer suffrage appeal and cites the February 15, 1906 speech.
Speech transcriptionspeakingwhilefemale.co

Identifies the convention, Baltimore venue and February 15, 1906 date.
Anthony backgrounden.wikipedia.org

Life dates and work in the suffrage movement.

The author

About Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony

1820–1906 · American suffrage campaigner

Susan B. Anthony was a reformer whose work centered on women’s voting rights. She collaborated with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in organizing, publishing and campaigning, and also worked in the abolitionist movement. Her arguments linked political representation with women’s economic and personal independence.

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Source consulted

Susan B. Anthony. Final public suffrage appeal, reported in The Story of a Pioneer. Source and limits described above.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Failure is impossible’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/failure-is-impossible/

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