The guaranteed failure feels safer, so we pursue it.

FORBES: The Changing Nature of Risk

But this much we know: If we do not make the attempt, then failure is guaranteed.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama on Bilateral Mideast Peace Meetings

But the immediate cause of the flooding was the failure of floodwalls and levees that were guaranteed to withstand a Katrina-sized storm surge, but failed thanks to faulty design and construction by the Army Corps of Engineers.

FORBES: The Blurring Line Between Natural and Manmade Disasters

Following the collapse of a third of all American banks in 1930-33, the government set up an insurance scheme under which it guaranteed to repay depositors, up to a certain limit, in the event of bank failure.

ECONOMIST: The business of banking | The