“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
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Source: Harijan (17 February 1940).
About this quote
Certainty feels like competence, but it quietly closes the door on new information. The people most likely to blunder are the ones who've stopped imagining they could be wrong. Holding a little doubt keeps you correctable when the facts shift under you.
When to use it
- A senior engineer who waves off a junior's bug report, then ships the exact defect to production.
- A doctor who orders a second opinion instead of trusting a quick first read of a scan.
- A veteran investor so sure a market can't fall that they ignore every warning sign until it does.