{"product_id":"not-to-have-tried-woodberry-heretics-journal","title":"Not to Have Tried — Woodberry Journal","description":"\u003cp\u003eA literary hardcover journal featuring George Edward Woodberry’s “Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.” — verified from the primary source. Literary objects by Quoteiac.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome lines stay private. They live in the part of you that tallies what you've done and what you kept deciding to do later. George Woodberry wrote one of those lines — and a journal is where it belongs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGeorge Edward Woodberry\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.\"\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Woodberry's \u003cem\u003eWendell Phillips: The Faith of an American\u003c\/em\u003e (1912), pp. 44–45. Verified from the primary source.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWoodberry wrote those words at the close of his 1912 book on Wendell Phillips — abolitionist, orator, one of the most demanding public consciences of the nineteenth century. The line wasn't ornamental. It was a distinction: between what happens to you and what you chose. Defeat is an outcome. You can be defeated and still have been present, still have thrown something into the world. Not trying is different — a decision you made before anything could happen. And Woodberry said plainly that this, not defeat, is the failure that costs you something real.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA journal is the one place that distinction can't be negotiated. In conversation you can make not-trying sound like caution, like strategy, like waiting for the right moment. On a blank page there's no audience to convince. You either did or you didn't, and the white space knows which.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Ensō\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cover carries a hand-brushed gold-and-copper \u003cem\u003eensō\u003c\/em\u003e — the Zen circle painted in one motion and left open at the bottom. Both sentences of the quote sit inside it in italic serif, with Woodberry's name quiet beneath. The open gap is deliberate: in the ensō tradition the unfinished circle is the complete one, because the attempt — not the finished shape — is the form. A fitting mark for a book of blank pages. The circle is the trying; the pages are where you do it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eAbout This Journal\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSize\u003c\/strong\u003e — 5.5″ × 8.5″\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePages\u003c\/strong\u003e — 80 lined, cream-colored pages\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCover\u003c\/strong\u003e — hardcover, matte, with the ensō printed on the front\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eClosure\u003c\/strong\u003e — elastic band and ribbon page marker\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInner pocket\u003c\/strong\u003e — expandable back pocket for loose notes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWho It's For\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe person sitting on a project, a decision, a conversation they keep meaning to start. Anyone who wants a journal that asks something of them instead of just holding their thoughts. And a real gift for the person who's ready but hasn't moved yet — the blank line is the invitation, and the accusation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe attempt is the point. Begin.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe same line is on the tees — two angles, one verdict:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/quoteiac.com\/products\/not-to-have-tried-woodberry-heretics-t-shirt\"\u003eNot to Have Tried Tee\u003c\/a\u003e — for the person deciding whether to go again after a loss\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/quoteiac.com\/products\/true-failure-woodberry-heretics-t-shirt\"\u003eTrue Failure Tee\u003c\/a\u003e — for the person who has already taken the loss and is working out what it meant\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/quoteiac.com\/products\/mankind-artist-tee\"\u003eMankind.Artist. Tee\u003c\/a\u003e — Woodberry on humanity as the ultimate artist\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBrowse the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/quoteiac.com\/collections\/george-woodberry\"\u003eGeorge Woodberry collection\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eGeorge Edward Woodberry, in Plain English\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAmerican poet and literary critic (1855–1930)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProfessor of comparative literature at Columbia University (1891–1904); at Harvard he was mentored by Charles Eliot Norton and James Russell Lowell\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis line comes from his 1912 book on Wendell Phillips — verified from that primary source\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe quote is misattributed all over the internet — it's genuinely his\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNot a household name, which is part of what makes the line land differently once you know the source\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBelieved in the examined life and the specific courage it takes to actually begin\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n","brand":"Quoteiac","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42640712269918,"sku":"2513053_16952","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0554\/8664\/4318\/files\/Not_to_Have_Tried_Woodberry_Journal.png?v=1784921484","url":"https:\/\/quoteiac.com\/products\/not-to-have-tried-woodberry-heretics-journal","provider":"Quoteiac","version":"1.0","type":"link"}