best quotations about
Mistakes |
and Errors
| 92 quotes | Visits: 122,448 |
Quotations
 | This is worse than a crime, it's a mistake. — Talleyrand, 1754-1838, French statesman & diplomat 73 likes |
 | Any man can make a mistake; only a fool keeps making the same one. — Cicero, 106-43 BC, Roman orator & statesman 44 likes |
 | Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others. — Otto von Bismarck, 1815-1898, German chancellor 27 likes |
 | Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 24 likes |
 | Experience is merely the name men give to their mistakes. — Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer 21 likes |
 | Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day. — Harry Truman, 1884-1972, American President [1945-1953] 17 likes |
 | Which? Is man one of God's blunders or is God one of man's blunders? — Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German philosopher 14 likes |
| In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 14 likes |
 | The only man who makes no mistakes is the man who never does anything. — Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919, American President [1901-1909] 14 likes |
 | You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities. — Winston Churchill, 1874-1965, British Prime Minister, Nobel 1953 13 likes |
 | A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing. — George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish writer, Nobel 1925 12 likes |
| Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time. — George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish writer, Nobel 1925 11 likes |
 | In politics, as in grammar, the mistake that everyone makes is declared the rule. — André Malraux, 1901-1976, French writer & statesman 10 likes |
 | Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. — Jim Rohn, 1930-2009, American self-help speker 10 likes |
 | The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 10 likes |
 | Live as if you were living for the second time and as if you had made a lot of mistakes the first time. — Victor Frankl, 1905-1997, Austrian neurologist 9 likes |
| Woman was God’s second mistake. — Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900, German philosopher 8 likes |
 | Honest error is to be pitied not ridiculed. — Lord Chesterfield, 1694-1773, English statesman & writer 8 likes |
 | Forget mistakes. Forget failure. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day. — Will Durant, 1885-1981, American historian & philosopher 8 likes |
 | From error to error one discovers the entire truth. — Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939, Austrian psychologist, founder of psychoanalysis 8 likes |
 | To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than the establishing of a new truth or fact. — Charles Darwin, 1809-1882, British scientist 8 likes |
 | Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself. — Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962, Wife of the 32nd USA president 8 likes |
 | Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. — Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948, Indian leader of independence 6 likes |
 | He who thinks great thoughts often makes great errors. — Martin Heidegger, 1889-1976, German philosopher 6 likes |
 | It's human to make mistakes and some of us are more human than others. — Ashleigh Brilliant, 1933-, British cartoonist & epigrammatist 6 likes |
 | The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. — Henry Ford, 1863-1947, American industrialist, founder of FORD 5 likes |
 | There are worse things than getting a call for a wrong number at 4 am. It could be a right number. — Doug Larson, 1926-2017, American columnist 5 likes |
 | A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.” — Douglas Adams, 1952-2001, British Sci-Fi writer 5 likes |
 | Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth. — Jules Verne, 1826-1905, French writer 5 likes |
 | When you want to be active, do not be afraid to do some things wrong, do not be afraid to make some mistakes. — Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890, Dutch painter 5 likes |
 | Generally speaking, the errors in religion are dangerous; those in philosophy only ridiculous. — David Hume, 1711-1776, Scottish philosopher 4 likes |
 | Love truth, but pardon error. — Voltaire, 1694-1778, French philosopher & writer 4 likes |
 | We made too many wrong mistakes. — Yogi Berra, 1925-2015, American baseball player & humorist 4 likes |
 | The better a man is, the more mistakes will he make - for the more new things he will try. I would never promote a man into a top level job who had not made mistakes, and big ones at that. — Peter Drucker, 1909–2005, Austrian management guru 4 likes |
| Experience is the name everyone gives to his mistakes. — Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915, American writer 4 likes |
 | It is for want of thinking that most Men are done. — Dr. Thomas Fuller, 1654-1734, English physician and adage collector 4 likes |
 | Some faults may claim forgiveness. 3 likes |
 | There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified and new prejudices to be opposed. — Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English writer 3 likes |
 | The mistakes of the fool are known to the world, but not to himself. The mistakes of the wise man are known to himself, but not to the world. — Charles Caleb Colton, 1780-1832, English cleric & writer 3 likes |
 | Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little. — Edmund Burke, 1729-1797, British statesman & philosopher 3 likes |
 | You have made some mistakes and you may not be where you want to be, but that has nothing to do with your future. — Zig Ziglar, 1926-2012, American self-help writer 3 likes |
 | You can spend the entire second half of your life recovering from the mistakes of the first half. — Saul Bellow, 1914-2005, Canadian-American writer, Nobel 1976 3 likes |
| Political necessities sometimes turn out to be political mistakes. — George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish writer, Nobel 1925 3 likes |
 | Back of every mistaken venture and defeat is the laughter of wisdom, if you listen. — Carl Sandburg, 1878-1967, American poet 2 likes |
 | To err is human also in so far as animals seldom or never err, or at least only the cleverest of them do so. — Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, 1742-1799, German author of maxims 2 likes |
 | In confessing one’s mistakes, one puts reason in the present and wrong in the past. — Duc de Levis, 1764-1830, French politician & author of maxims 2 likes |
| Men do not suspect faults which they do not commit. — Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, English writer 2 likes |
| The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The true dangerous thing is asking the wrong question. — Peter Drucker, 1909–2005, Austrian management guru 2 likes |
| Some of us learn from other people’s mistakes and the rest of us have to be other people. — Zig Ziglar, 1926-2012, American self-help writer 2 likes |
 | Experience is the name so many people give to their mistakes. — Francis Scott Fitzgerald, 1896-1940, American writer 1 likes |
 | We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents. |
 | We commit two wrongs when we fail to right a wrong. |
 | To convince someone of the truth, it is not enough to state it, but rather one must find the path from error to truth. |
 | Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny. |
 | To err is human, to really foul things up requires a computer. |
 | He who has trusted where he ought not will surely mistrust where he ought not. — Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, 1830-1916, German author of maxims |
 | A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. |
 | There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting. |
 | A husband, like a government, should never confess wrongdoing. |
 | The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set some limit on infinite error. |
 | If it is a mistake of the head and not the heart don’t worry about it, that’s the way we learn. |
 | If you have made a mistake cut your losses as quickly as possible. — Bernard Baruch, 1870-1965, American businessman & statesman |
| I have known men who could see through the motivations of others with the skill of a clairvoyant; only to prove blind to their own mistakes. I have been one of those men. — Bernard Baruch, 1870-1965, American businessman & statesman |
 | I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the wisdom of indifference. |
 | In politics, every day is filled with numerous opportunities for serious error. Enjoy it. |
 | The specialist is one who never makes small mistakes while moving toward the grand fallacy. — Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, Canadian academic & media theorist |
| Nobody ever made a grammatical error in a non-literate society. — Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, Canadian academic & media theorist |
 | By your stumbling, the world is perfected. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
 | Youth: time of failures. |
 | Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again. |
 | I am being frank about myself in this book. I tell of my first mistake on page 850. |
 | Mistakes are almost always sacred. Never try to correct them. |
 | The fact is: I no longer believe in my own infallibility. That is why I am lost. |
 | We all make mistakes, and it is better to make them before we begin. |
 | Take a wrong turn. Get lost in something you love. — Marty Rubin, 1930-1994, Canadian gay activist, author & journalist |
 | Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock. |
 | Intelligent people make many mistakes because they cannot believe the world is really as foolish as it is. |
 | It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose. |
 | It began as a mistake. |
Latin Quotes
 | Who is allowed to make mistakes, makes fewer mistakes. Cui peccare licet, peccat minus. — Ovid, 43 BC-17 AD, Roman poet 76 likes |
 | To err is human. Errare Humanum est. 22 likes |
| Splendidly false. Splendide mendax. 11 likes |
Ancient Greek
 | To make the same mistake twice is not wise. Το δις εξαμαρτείν τ’ αυτόν ουκ ανδρός σοφού. — Menander, 4th cent. BC, Ancient Greek dramatist (New Comedy) 10 likes |
| It’s a shame to stumble on the same rock twice. Δις προς τον αυτόν αισχρόν προσκρούσαι λίθον. — Menander, 4th cent. BC, Ancient Greek dramatist (New Comedy) 9 likes |
| A slip of the tongue speaks the truth. Η γλώσσα λανθάνουσα τ’ αληθή λέγει. — Menander, 4th cent. BC, Ancient Greek dramatist (New Comedy) 7 likes |
 | The cause of error is ignorance of what is better. Αμαρτίης αιτίη η αμαθίη του κρέσσονος. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 5 likes |
 | He who does much makes the most mistakes. Ο πλείστα πράττων, πλείσθ’ αμαρτάνει βροτών. — Euripides, 480-406 BC, Ancient Greek tragedian ‐ Oenomaus 3 likes |
| A wrong word can turn your whole life upside down. Ρήμα παράκαιρον τον όλον ανατρέπει βίον. — Menander, 4th cent. BC, Ancient Greek dramatist (New Comedy) 3 likes |
Proverbs
 | Even monkeys fall from trees. 5 likes |
 | It's no use crying over spilt milk. 4 likes |
 | Don't put the cart before the horse. 2 likes |
Movie Quotes
 | When women go wrong, men go right after them. — from the film She Done Him Wrong (1933) 9 likes |
