In my case go homeless or die is what it means to fail.
edit: granted I'm not trying to split an atom or something crazy like that, but yeah. The fear of failure is always in the back of my mind.(currently means lose job/debt or generally just making an ass of myself eg. in meetings/srum/professional convo)
There are more details to the above, which I've explained in my blog: https://alokgovil.com/winners-quit-strategically/
"Fun" fact: This guy was a convinced Nazi who basically destroyed two Russian tank divisions alone. I told this quote to an African American friend when he was struggling badly and had to go abroad for a job and it has inspired him ever since. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Ulrich_Rudel
Beowulf has a similar quote: "fate often enough will spare a man if his courage holds"
They did build some cool stuff though