QuoteProject
For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.
Plutarch
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Making mistakes in judgment is a natural human trait, even if it may not reflect wisdom.

This quote by Plutarch highlights the inevitability of making errors in our opinions and judgments. While wise individuals strive to avoid mistakes, the acknowledgment that being wrong is a fundamentally human experience serves as a reminder of our fallibility and the importance of humility in our judgments.

Themes

ErrorOpinionHumanityWisdomFallibility

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about decision-making, I could use this quote to emphasize the importance of accepting human errors.

More from Plutarch

Sometimes small incidents, rather than glorious exploits, give us the best evidence of character. So, as portrait painters are more exact in doing the face, where the character is revealed, than the rest of the body, I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks of the souls of men.
PlutarchRead
It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such a one as is unworthy of him; for the one is only belief - the other contempt.
PlutarchRead
Come back with your shield - or on it
PlutarchRead
The richest soil, if uncultivated, produces the rankest weeds.
PlutarchRead
For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.
PlutarchRead
Our senses through ignorance of Reality, falsely tell us that what appears to be, is. FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real
PlutarchRead

Similar quotes

A Morning Prayer The day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns and duties. Help us to play the man; help us to perform them with laughter and kind faces, let cheerfulness abound with industry. Give us to go blithely on our business all this day. Bring us to our resting beds weary and content and undishonored and grant us in the end the gift of sleep.
Robert Louis StevensonRead
Dig inside. Inside is the fountain of good, and it will forever flow, if you will forever dig.
Marcus AureliusRead
Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.
Alice WalkerRead
Programming is not a zero-sum game. Teaching something to a fellow programmer doesn't take it away from you. I'm happy to share what I can, because I'm in it for the love of programming.
John CarmackRead
His priority did not seem to be to teach them what he knew, but rather to impress upon them that nothing, not even... knowledge, was foolproof.
J. K. RowlingRead
Do not try to explain feelings. Live everything intensely and treasure what you feel as a gift from God.
Paulo CoelhoRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.