Browsing Topic Best Being Wrong Quotes

Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.

When you are wrong, admit it. When you are right, be quiet.

I love being wrong because that means in that instant, I learned something new that day.

How many crimes are permitted simply because their authors could not endure being wrong.

I think mistakes are the essence of science and law. It’s impossible to conceive of either scientific progress or legal progress without understanding the important role of being wrong and of mistakes.

I may have my faults, but being wrong ain’t one of them.

It is so easy to be wrong-and to persist in being wrong-when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.

Many books serve merely to show how many ways there are of being wrong, and how far astray you yourself would go if you followed their guidance. You should read only when your own thoughts dry up.

It’s easy to win forgiveness for being wrong; being right is what gets you into real trouble.

Michael Marcus taught me one other thing that is absolutely critical: You have to be willing to make mistakes regularly; there is nothing wrong with it. Michael taught me about making your best judgment, being wrong, making your next best judgment, being wrong, making your third best judgment, and then doubling your money.

I wasn’t ever advised by Scott Sullivan of anything ever being wrong.

Before you invest, you must ensure that you have realistically assessed your probability of being right and how you will react to the consequences of being wrong.

Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts. Many books, moreover, serve merely to show how many ways there are of being wrong, and how far astray you yourself would go if you followed their guidance. You should read only when your own thoughts dry up, which will of course happen frequently enough even to the best heads; but to banish your own thoughts so as to take up a book is a sin against the holy ghost; it is like deserting untrammeled nature to look at a herbarium or engravings of landscapes.

The audience will always forgive you for being wrong and exciting, but never for being right and dull.

Pedantry prides herself on being wrong by rules; while common sense is contented to be right without them.

The problem in this case was you can’t be a middle-aged virgin in America without something being wrong with you. People can’t conceive of a virtue in someone else that they can’t conceive in themselves. Instead of believing you’re stronger, it’s so much easier to imagine you’re weaker.

The first ingredient to being wrong is to claim that you are right. Geniuses have a knack for raising new questions. Hence by the public they are either admired for their creativity or, even more commonly so, detested for disturbing the daily peace of mind.

I am interested in the possibility that we are going to be wrong in the same way that history has indicated that mankind always is. It seems as though the history of ideas is the history of being wrong. And to me, that is a kind of continuum. It’s a continual path that shows we don’t always know something, but we’re always shifting to a path that makes us feel more comfortable in the moment, even if that shift is wrong, and a new shift is destined to happen again.

(…) being right all the time acquires a huge importance in education, and there is this terror of being wrong. The ego is so tied to being right that later on in life you are reluctant to accept that you are ever wrong, because you are defending not the idea but your self-esteem. (…) this terror of being wrong means that people have enormous difficulties in changing ideas.

We would like you to reach the place where you’re not willing to listen to people criticize one another… where you take no satisfaction from somebody being wrong… where it matters to you so much that you feel good, that you are only willing to think positive things about people… you are only willing to look for positive aspects; you are only willing to look for solutions, and you are not willing to beat the drum of all of the problems of the world.

The hardest part is the grueling work of constantly being wrong.

You’ll have to learn that public life takes a lot of sweat; but it doesn’t need to worry you. You won’t always be right, but you mustn’t suffer from being wrong. That’s what kills people like us.

We are confronted with the possibility of a war of such destruction that the whole existence of our nation and of the whole world is at stake. And yet, people know it – people read it in the newspapers, people read that at the first attack, a hundred million Americans might be killed. And yet, they talk about it as if they were talking about something being wrong with the carburetor of their car, perhaps.

The humanity of famous intellectuals lies in being wrong with gracious courtesy when dealing with those who are not famous.

The word ‘heresy’ not only means no longer being wrong; it practically means being clear-headed and courageous. The word ‘orthodoxy’ not only no longer means being right; it practically means being wrong

I’m pretty good at sticking to what I know. You don’t see me social commentating on health-care or presidential debates. I talk about what I know because I’m petrified of being wrong.

To others, being wrong is a source of shame; to me, recognizing my mistakes is a source of pride.

We can be almost certain of being wrong about the future, if we are wrong about the past.

I hate being wrong, but I love it when I’m set straight.

Being wrong about important things is exhausting.

It is reasonable to insist that when the government deprives a person of his or her liberty? and in this case for an indefinite period of time? that the individual have a meaningful opportunity to challenge the legality of their detention and challenge whether they are being wrongfully detained.

When there are no consequences, being wrong is simply a diversion.

I was utterly free of speculative prejudices. The bear side doesn’t appeal to me any more than the bull side, or vice versa. My one steadfast prejudice is against being wrong.

After all we speak of people ‘taking refuge’ in vagueness -the more precise you are, in general the more likely you are to be wrong, whereas you stand a good chance of not being wrong if you make it vague enough.

Being wrong is acceptable, but staying wrong is totally unacceptable.