Purposeful practice is about striving for what is just out of reach and not quite making it; it is about grappling with tasks beyond current limitations and falling short again and again. Excellence is about stepping outside the comfort zone, training with a spirit of endeavor, and accepting the inevitability of trials and tribulations. Progress is built, in effect, upon the foundation of necessary failure. That is the essential paradox of expert performance.Matthew Syed Bounce - Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success , (p. 85), HarperCollins Publishers, 2010

Historians tend to focus on the reasons for success. Their fascination is with victory, and although a lot has been written about why losses occur, most historical tracts address the reasons that one side won. Winners, after all, write the histories. Yet it's interesting and important to think about military failures - particularly when we are flush with victory ... There seems to be a common historical thread running through many of the greatest military losses. Those losses in great part stem from an arrogance that begets ignorance - an ignorance of facts and developments that others are quicker to see. Admiral Bill Owens with Ed Offley Lifting the Fog of War , (p. 20), The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000