I tried out, unsuccessfully, for my high school basketball team as a junior. A student in my grade who never tried out mocked me a day or two after tryouts for failing to make the team. I retired that he hadn't even tried out. He said "well, it's like you didn't, either!"
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I grew up around a lot of people who had the mentality of this post-tryouts heckler. They saw more value in not losing, not coming up short, not putting themselves in position to ever have to improve. Is it a coincidence that many of these people are still in the same place they were in back then, just older?
There's no virtue in not trying. If you haven't failed at anything, it's because you aren't trying anything that's above your current skill and ability level: nothing you're doing requires you to get better. Which means you're staying where you're at. Which means, since civilization is constantly evolving and moving forward, you're actually losing. By choice. Which makes you a failure.