The following by John Steinbeck supports a well-lived life. "Greatness lies in the one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory." Steinbeck is encouraging us to risk fully participating in life, with both defeat and victory being inevitable. It means living life on life's terms, doing what we can to minimize being defeated by either defeat or victory. Let's look more closely at what it means to be defeated by defeat.
"Nothing...can sharpen the historian's mind like defeat." - Eric Hobsbawm, reflecting the value of learning from defeats and how many intellectuals have enriched our understanding from their own failures.