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Who really said it

Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly

Not John F. Kennedy — actually Robert F. Kennedy Robert F. Kennedy 1925–1968 · U.S. senator & former attorney general
Disputed In copyright

The idea traces to Robert Kennedy’s Day of Affirmation Address ↗ at the University of Cape Town on 6 June 1966 — “only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly” — delivered two-and-a-half years after John F. Kennedy’s death. The smoother “fail miserably” wording pinned on the president is a later popular variant with no source in anything JFK said or wrote.

Last verified 7 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed — copy with the correction

“Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly” Robert F. Kennedy, "Day of Affirmation Address," University of Cape Town, 6 June 1966: "only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly." Often reworded as "dare to fail miserably" and misattributed to John F. Kennedy, who had died in 1963.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by Estate of Robert F. Kennedy). 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 Robert F. Kennedy — U.S. senator, former attorney general. Theme: "Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly". 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 "Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly". 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 real source

Speaker
Robert F. Kennedy
Speech
Day of Affirmation Address
Delivered
University of Cape Town, South Africa · 6 June 1966
Popular (wrong) credit
John F. Kennedy, as “dare to fail miserably”

Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly. ↑ the viral JFK version rewrites ‘fail greatly’ as ‘fail miserably’, drops the ‘only’, and swaps in the wrong Kennedy

The sentence sits in RFK’s passage on courage and idealism; the freestanding “fail miserably” aphorism is a stripped-down paraphrase, not a transcript of anything either Kennedy said.

Day of Affirmation Address (as delivered), JFK Library

How to trace it

  • The words come from Robert Kennedy’s Cape Town Day of Affirmation Address ↗ of 6 June 1966: “only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.”
  • Wikiquote ↗ files the line under RFK with the Cape Town 1966 citation, noting variants as reprinted in Ripples of Hope (2003).
  • Quote sites such as Goodreads ↗ still file the reworded “fail miserably” version under John F. Kennedy — flagged “not verified.”
In copyright

The 1966 speech is modern (post-1929) and not clearly a U.S. Government work, so the underlying wording is likely still under copyright; quoted here as brief fair-use excerpt for commentary.

Fact-check

Why the JFK credit is wrong

“Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly” is one of the most common Kennedy mix-ups online — the words are the wrong brother’s, and even then they’ve been reworded.

John F. Kennedy

JFK was assassinated in November 1963 — more than two years before the speech that produced this line. No JFK address or writing contains it; it doesn’t appear on Wikiquote’s John F. Kennedy ↗ page in any form, yet aggregators like BrainyQuote ↗ still credit him.

The line is Robert F. Kennedy’s, from Cape Town on 6 June 1966 — “only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly” (Wikiquote ↗); “fail miserably” is a later paraphrase.

Context

Why it mattered

Kennedy delivered the “dare to fail greatly” line to students at the University of Cape Town during apartheid, in a speech built around the idea that ordinary acts of courage — “numberless diverse acts of courage and belief” — are what bend history. Daring to fail was framed as the price of idealism, not a slogan about ambition.

The stripped-down, motivational-poster form — and its reassignment to the more famous President Kennedy — sands off that context, turning a call to moral risk into a generic line about achievement.

“Only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.”

More on the two wordings

RFK’s transcript reads “fail greatly,” not “fail miserably.” The “miserably” variant, the dropped “only,” and the switch from Robert to John Kennedy are all features of the internet-era quote, not of the 1966 record.

Explore

Filed under

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

Courage Failure Success

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.

Day of Affirmation Address (as delivered)jfklibrary.org

JFK Library’s primary transcript of RFK’s 1966 Cape Town speech.
RFK — University of Cape Town Day of Affirmation Addressamericanrhetoric.com

Full annotated transcript containing the “dare to fail greatly” sentence.
Robert F. Kennedyen.wikiquote.org

Sourced quote page filing the line under RFK, Cape Town 1966.
John F. Kennedyen.wikiquote.org

JFK quote page — the “fail miserably” line appears nowhere on it.
Day of Affirmation — full transcriptspeakola.com

Independent transcript confirming speaker, date, and occasion.
The misattributed JFK versiongoodreads.com

Shows the reworded form still credited to JFK, marked “not verified.”

The true author

About Robert F. Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy

1925–1968 · U.S. senator, former attorney general

Robert Francis Kennedy was U.S. attorney general (1961–64) under his brother John, then U.S. senator from New York (1965–68). His 1966 Day of Affirmation speech to South African students — delivered at the height of apartheid — is among his most quoted, and he was assassinated in June 1968 while seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source

Robert F. Kennedy, “Day of Affirmation Address,” University of Cape Town, South Africa, 6 June 1966. See also Ripples of Hope: Great American Civil Rights Speeches, ed. Josh Gottheimer (New York: Basic Books, 2003).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly’?” Last verified 7 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/those-who-dare-to-fail-miserably-can-achieve-greatly

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