Chesterfield (Lord) -- Letter to his son (21 Sep 1747)
Errors and mistakes, however gross, in matters of opinion, if they are sincere, are to be pitied, but not punished nor laughed at. The blindness of the understanding is as much to be pitied as the...
View ArticleDemocritus -- Frag. 60 (Diels) [tr. Bakewell (1907)]
It is better to correct your own faults than those of another. [Κρέσσον τὰ οἰκήϊα ἐλέγχειν ἁμαρτήματα ἢ τὰ ὀθνεῖα.] Democritus (c. 460 BC - c. 370 BC) Greek philosopher Frag. 60 (Diels) [tr. Bakewell...
View ArticlePopper, Karl -- “Knowledge and the Shaping of Reality,” lecture, Alpbach (Aug...
Since we can never know anything for sure, it is simply not worth searching for certainty; but it is well worth searching for truth; and we do this chiefly by searching for mistakes, so that we have to...
View ArticleBoreham, Frank W. -- The Fiery Crags (1929)
Since we all need reproving and rebuking, and since we all know that we need reproving and rebuking, we ought — if we were logical — to be extremely grateful to those who reprove and rebuke us. And I...
View ArticleSt. Johns, Adela Rogers -- Some Are Born Great (1974)
It is only an error in judgment to make a mistake, but it argues an infirmity of character to stick to it. Adela Rogers St. Johns (1894-1988) American journalist, novelist, screenwriter.Some Are Born...
View ArticleGracián, Baltasar -- The Art of Worldly Wisdom [Oráculo Manual y Arte de...
Do not persist in folly. Some make a duty of failure and having started down the wrong road, think it a badge of character to continue. [No proseguir la necedad. Hacen algunos empeño del desacierto, y...
View ArticleBanneker, Benjamin -- Handwritten note in one of his almanacs
Evil communication corrupts good manners. I hope to live to hear that good communication corrects “bad manners.” Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) American naturalist, surveyor, almanac author,...
View ArticleRussell, Bertrand -- “On corporal punishment,” New York American (1932-09-07)
A physician would not cure his patients more effectually if he were angry with them for being ill, and the criminal law is not more effective when it is inspired by anger against the criminal. The...
View ArticleGoethe, Johann von -- Elective Affinities [Die Wahlverwandtschaften], Part 2,...
We are willing to acknowledge our shortcomings, we are willing to be punished for them, we will patiently suffer much on their account, but we become impatient if we are required to overcome them. [Man...
View ArticleDyson, Freeman -- The Scientist as Rebel, Part 3, ch. 19 “The World on a...
Progress in science is often built on wrong theories that are later corrected. It is better to be wrong than to be vague. Freeman Dyson (1923-2020) English-American theoretical physicist,...
View ArticleConfucius -- The Analects [論語, 论语, Lúnyǔ], Book 13, verse 3 (13.3.2, 5-7)...
The one thing needed is the correction of terms. […] If terms be incorrect, then statements do not accord with facts; and when statements and facts do not accord, then business is not properly...
View ArticleColton, Charles Caleb -- Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 1 (1820)
It is almost as difficult to make a man unlearn his errors as his knowledge. Mal-information is more hopeless than non-information; for error is always more busy than ignorance. Ignorance is a blank...
View ArticleMencken, H. L. -- A Little Book in C Major, ch. 3, § 5 (1916)
A successful man is simply one who doesn’t make a fool of himself in the same way more than two or three times running. H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]A...
View ArticleMartin, Judith -- Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior,...
Miss Manners corrects only upon request. Then she does it from a distance, with no names attached, and no personal relationship, however distant, between the corrector and the correctee. She does not...
View ArticleRogers, Will -- “Weekly Article” column (1935-07-28)
There is nothing as easy as denouncing. It don’t take much to see that something is wrong, but it does take some eyesight to see what will put it right again. Will Rogers (1879-1935) American...
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