How does the author connect the ideas of success and failure in this excerpt? We must bear in mind that failure is only the past, and it is the experience of every successful person. The most successful people often have the most failures. These failures that serve as stumbling blocks to the feeble only allow the strong to see clearer, to go on their way with a firmer tread and more determined attitude. With this approach, they compel life to yield to them its most enduring trophies. The world is not coming to an end, nor society going to destruction, because our petty plans have gone away. The present failure should only teach us to be more wary in the future and this will gather a rich harvest as the final outcome of our efforts. The most successful people truly do have the most failures. So, if success were to crown our efforts now, we may then lose even greater future successes built on our failures. The author believes that the world would come to an end if successful people’s plans ever failed or went away. The author describes how creating petty plans leads to failure, while reaching for rich harvests leads to success. The author demonstrates that successful people rarely encounter stumbling blocks, and so they do not fail. The author argues that in order to succeed, a person must overcome and learn from his or her failures.