A seeker after Truth cannot afford to indulge in generalisation. Darwin for the greater part of his book Origin of the Species has simply massed fact upon fact without any theorising, and only towards the end has formulated his conclusion which, because of the sheer weight of testimony behind it, becomes almost irresistible. Yes I have criticised even Darwin's generalisation as being unwarranted. Science tells us that a proposition may hold good in nine hundred ninety-nine cases and yet fail in the thousandth case and thus be rendered untenable as a universal statement.

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Source: 'Generalisation', from Harijan (6 July 1940); quoted in Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi (1945), ed. Jag Parvesh Chander, pp. 243-244.

About this quote

Truth-seeking asks you to build slowly, letting evidence stack up before you name a conclusion. A single stubborn exception can sink a sweeping rule, so the careful thinker keeps testing claims against the cases where they might fail rather than trusting a tidy generalisation.

When to use it

  • A student refuses to declare a theory proven after a single lucky experiment.
  • A manager withholds judgment on a new hire instead of labeling them from one rough week.
  • Before trusting a rule of thumb, an analyst hunts for the cases where it quietly breaks.