It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great. Failure is the true test of greatness. And if it be said, that continual success is a proof that a man wisely knows his powers, — it is only to be added, that, in that case, he knows them to be small.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "It is better to fail in originality, than to succeed in imitation. He who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great. Failure is the true test of greatness. And if it be said, that continual success is a proof that a man wisely knows his powers, — it is only to be added, that, in that case, he knows them to be small." in the context of "Herman Melville, "Hawthorne and His Mosses," The Literary World (August 17, 24, 1850)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.