Who really said it

If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person

Q: Did Bill Clinton say "If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person"?

Yes. These are genuinely Clinton's words, spoken in a 1992 presidential-campaign speech and reported by B. Drummond Ayres Jr. in The New York Times on 29 June 1992. Snopes rated it "Correct Attribution." One honest caveat: the Times placed "he said" between the first two sentences, so the seamless one-breath version that circulates online may join remarks that were slightly apart.

Spoken by Bill Clinton Born 1946 · 42nd U.S. President; Governor of Arkansas in 1992

Verified In copyright

These are genuinely Clinton’s words, spoken in a 1992 presidential-campaign speech and reported by B. Drummond Ayres Jr. in The New York Times on 29 June 1992. Snopes rated it “Correct Attribution.” One honest caveat: the Times placed “he said” between the first two sentences, so the seamless one-breath version that circulates online may join remarks that were slightly apart.

Last verified 8 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Verified quote & credit

“If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person” Bill Clinton, 1992 presidential-campaign speech, reported in The New York Times, 29 June 1992.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Bill Clinton (spoken words); the report is © The New York Times Company). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Bill Clinton — 42nd U.S. President & former Governor of Arkansas. Theme: "If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person". 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.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Speaker: Bill Clinton
Occasion: 1992 U.S. presidential-campaign speech
Reported in: The New York Times, 29 June 1992
Reporter: B. Drummond Ayres Jr. (“Reporter’s Notebook”)

“If you live long enough, you’ll make mistakes,” he said in one speech. “But if you learn from them, you’ll be a better person. It’s how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit.” as reported

Note the placement of “he said” after the first sentence — the paper set the attribution between the two sentences, which is why it is uncertain whether the popular one-breath version was a single unbroken thought.

Snopes fact-check of the Clinton quote

How we traced it

Snopes rated the attribution “Correct Attribution” and identified the primary source as The New York Times.
A syndicated copy of the fact-check confirms the 29 June 1992 date and reporter B. Drummond Ayres Jr., quoting the passage verbatim.
On Goodreads and similar quote sites the line runs as one seamless statement with no source cited — the shape that spreads on social media.

In copyright

The words were spoken by Bill Clinton in 1992 and first published that year in The New York Times; a 1992 first publication sits well after 1931, so the quotation and its reporting are treated as in copyright in the United States in 2026. Brief quotation for commentary and criticism is ordinarily fair use.

Fact-check

The wording nuance

The attribution to Bill Clinton is correct — the issue is the shape of the quote, not the speaker.

Social-media & quote-site versions spliced

The line spreads as one polished, continuous sentence, but The New York Times placed “he said” between the two clauses, and no audio or video has surfaced to prove the two sentences were spoken back-to-back as a single thought.

Inspirational reposts trimmed

The popular form drops the rest of what Clinton said — “It’s how you handle adversity… The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit” — which is part of the same reported passage.

Clinton really said these words on the 1992 campaign trail; the only caveat is that the seamless one-sentence version may join remarks the Times printed with attribution between them.

Context

A stump-speech resilience line

The line surfaces today as a polished, one-breath inspirational quote, but it began as off-the-cuff campaign-trail talk. In the frantic final week before Clinton named a running mate in July 1992, a reporter caught him working the theme of resilience — making mistakes, learning, and above all not quitting.

What circulates online today trims the fuller passage down to its most quotable opening, which is why the source and the exact shape of the remark are worth pinning down.

“The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit.”

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Failure Growth Wisdom

Go further

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.

Snopes: Did Bill Clinton Say This About Making Mistakes?snopes.com

Fact-check rating the quote “Correct Attribution” and tracing it to the 29 June 1992 New York Times report.

Fact Check syndication of the Snopes findingyahoo.com

Republished fact-check confirming the wording, the NYT date, and reporter B. Drummond Ayres Jr.

NYT: Clinton Enjoying Mystery Over Choice for Ticketnytimes.com

The primary Reporter’s Notebook article that carries the quotation (subscription/archive).

Goodreads: the popular one-line formgoodreads.com

Shows how the quote circulates unsourced as a single continuous statement.

The true author

About Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

Born 1946 · 42nd U.S. President & former Governor of Arkansas

William Jefferson Clinton (born 19 August 1946) served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001, having previously been Governor of Arkansas. In June 1992, when this line was reported, he was the Arkansas governor closing in on the Democratic presidential nomination. Known as a fluent, extemporaneous speaker, Clinton often folded folksy resilience aphorisms like this into stump speeches.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

B. Drummond Ayres Jr., “THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Reporter’s Notebook; Clinton Enjoying Mystery Over Choice for Ticket,” The New York Times, 29 June 1992.

MLA (9th ed.)

Ayres, B. Drummond, Jr. "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Reporter's Notebook; Clinton Enjoying Mystery Over Choice for Ticket." The New York Times, 29 June 1992.

APA (7th ed.)

Ayres, B. D., Jr. (1992, June 29). The 1992 campaign: Reporter's notebook; Clinton enjoying mystery over choice for ticket. The New York Times.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person’?” Last verified 8 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/if-you-live-long-enough-youll-make-mistakes-but-if-you