Being Wrong Quotes

• The secret to being wrong isn't to avoid being wrong! The secret is being willing to be wrong. The secret is realizing that wrong isn't fatal.

  Seth Godin

  Failure, Secret, Realizing

  Seth Godin (2008). “Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us”, p.108, Penguin

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

  Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Mean, Love Is, Something New

  Source: www.npr.org

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• A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.

  Thomas Paine

  Integrity, Ignorance, Character

  Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson (1988). “Paine and Jefferson on Liberty”, p.25, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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

  George Soros

  Mistake, Failure, Understanding

  George Soros, Byron Wien, Krisztina Koenen (1995). “Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve”, p.11, John Wiley & Sons

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

  Jack D. Schwager

  Motivational, Wise Words, Staying

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  It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.

  Thomas Sowell

  Business, Stupid, Government

  "Wake Up, Parents!". Column at Jewish World Review, www.jewishworldreview.com. August 18, 2000.

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• I don't really care about being right, I just care about success. I don't mind being wrong, and I'll admit that I'm wrong a lot. It doesn't really matter to me too much. What matters to me is that we do the right thing.

  Steve Jobs

  Inspirational, What Matters, Mind

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• The worst thing is not being wrong, but being sure one is not wrong.

  Paul Tournier

  Worst, Worst Things

  Paul Tournier (1978). “The Violence Within”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right.

  Igor Stravinsky

  Silence, Foolish, Possibility

  Igor Stravinsky, Robert Craft (1966). “Themes and episodes”

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• Mistakes are at the very base of human thought, embedded there, feeding the structure like root nodules. If we were not provided with the knack for being wrong, we could never get anything useful done. We think our way along by choosing between right and wrong alternatives, and the wrong choices have to be made as often as the right ones. We get along in life this way.

  Lewis Thomas

  Life, Mistake, Creativity

  Lewis Thomas (1990). “A Long Line of Cells Collected Essays”

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

  Harlan Ellison

  Hate, Love Hate, I Hate Love

  Harlan Ellison (1989). “Harlan Ellison's watching”

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• I don't really care about being right, I just care about success.

  Steve Jobs

  Care, About Success

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• The worst thing you can do is nothing.

  Terry Pratchett

  Motivational, Change, Positive

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

  Jimmy Hoffa

  History, May, Faults

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• Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man.

  Thomas Tusser

  Peace, Integrity, Patriotic

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• Indecisiveness and procrastination are the chosen ways of life for most people. They follow the course of least resistance, which is to do nothing. This provides a security blanket of never being wrong, never making mistakes, never being disappointed and never failing. But they will also never succeed.

  David Peoples

  Mistake, Procrastination, People

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• I read a lot, almost anything and everything. I make an effort to use any knowledge I attain and express my opinions even at the risk of being wrong at times.

  Malcolm Goodwin

  Effort, Risk, Use

  "iZombie Actor Malcolm Goodwin: Life-Changing Leap of Faith". Interview with Robert Piper, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

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• Oh press - must you spread hate? Can't you just stick to being wrong?

  Jon Stewart

  Hate, Sticks, Spread

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• (...) 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.

  Edward de Bono

  Real, Self Esteem, Mean

  Edward De Bono (1972). “PO: a device for successful thinking”

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• People cheat when they are afraid. When there is no cost to being wrong or confessing ignorance, there is no reason to cheat or fake comprehension.

  Leah Hager Cohen

  Cheating, Ignorance, People

  Leah Hager Cohen (2013). “I don't know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn't)”, p.9, Penguin

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• 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

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  Mean, Orthodoxy, Courageous

  Gilbert K. Chesterton (2013). “The Essential Gilbert K. Chesterton”, p.125, Simon and Schuster

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• Why should you mind being wrong if someone can show you that you are?

  A.J. Ayer

  Mind, Should, Shows

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• I have no interest in being wrong, so if I am, please correct me. I don't want to be wrong. There's nothing in it for you or for me to be wrong.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Want, Interest, Please

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• You must never feel badly about making mistakes ... as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.

  Norton Juster

  Inspirational, Mistake, Long

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• If you work in either journalism or politics... you will be flogged for being right and flogged for being wrong, and it hurts both ways-but it doesn't hurt as much when you're right.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Hurt, Way, Journalism

  Hunter S. Thompson (2011). “Generation of Swine: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist”, p.10, Simon and Schuster

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