He who never made a mistake never made a discovery.
Samuel Smiles Self-Help, Chapter XI (1859)
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When and why it was written
- When
- From Self-Help, 1859.
- Why
- Smiles is describing how failed experiments led to scientific discoveries.
What it means
Mistakes, for Smiles, are the price of finding anything new. A person who never errs has never tried.
It is a kinder way to read yesterday's mistakes.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
Read the source
Self-Help, 1859
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