Quotes About Fallibility

It is true that 1,000 days cannot prove you right, but one day can prove you to be wrong.

we know a lot more what is wrong than what is right

We certainly know a lot, but we have a built-in tendency to think that we know a little bit more than we actually do

We certainly know a lot, but we have a built-in tendency to think that we know a little bit more than we actually do, enough of that little bit to occasionally get into serious trouble.

Before the "enlightenment" and the age of rationality, there was in the culture a collection of tricks to deal with our fallibility and reversals of fortunes. The elders can still help us with some of their ruses.

Conversely, when you think you know more than you do, you are fragile (to error).

I rejoice that I could once think better of the world's improvability than it deserved. It is a mistake into which men seldom fall twice, in a lifetime; or, if so, the rarer and higher is the nature that can magnanimously persist in error.

So, if you're asking me if it's possible for you to make errors in judgement, the answer is yes. You make errors all the time... as does every other human being who has ever lived. Error is an intrinsic part of the human condition - and it is something I deeply love about humankind.

But this isn't a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is. -Connor

We make our heroes out of clay.

Nobody's perfect. And if you think they are, you're sadly mistaken.

Everyone is flawed and everyone makes mistakes and is culpable.

We're all men, not machines. We make mistakes.

Doctors are just people and they can make mistakes.

To err is human. To kill is evil.

We are infected by our own misunderstanding of how our own minds work.

Because no one is perfect, we all desperately need forgiveness. By forgiving others you allow them to be human, and in doing so it makes you more aware of how human you really are. Think of all the people you've judged because of their behavior. Isn't it true that some of them behave in very similar ways to you? There isn't a person on the face of this earth who doesn't need grace.

Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?

I CAN STATE THE CORE IDEA in two relatively simple propositions. One is that in situations that have thinking participants, the participants' view of the world is always partial and distorted. That is the principle of fallibility. The other is that these distorted views can influence the situation to which they relate because false views lead to inappropriate actions. That is the principle of reflexivity.

I recognize that I may be wrong. This makes me insecure. My sense of insecurity keeps me alert, always ready to correct my errors. I do this on two levels. On the abstract level, I have turned the belief in my own fallibility into the cornerstone of an elaborate philosophy.

As my father once explained to me, our "rights" are only as strong as the democracy that protects them. Because we are a people's democracy here in America, as great as the people of this country can be, but also as fallible, we must stay ever vigilant in the face of any "tyranny" of the majority, no matter the stated objective.

Wisdom is keeping a sense of fallibility of all our views and opinions.

Men are men, they needs must err.

It is a purely relative matter where one draws the plimsoll-line of condemnation, and ... if you find the whole of humanity falls below it you have simply made a mistake and drawn it too high. And you are probably below it yourself.