Very much enjoyed Joanna Rowling's speech to the graduating class at Harvard (video and transcipt here). I had a very similar conversation to her take on the virtues of failure quite recently.
"The first thing I would like to say is ‘thank you.’ Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I’ve experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am at the world’s best-educated Harry Potter convention."