The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. ~Elbert Hubbard, The Note Book, 1927

Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life. ~Sophia Loren

It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something. ~Ornette Coleman

I never make stupid mistakes. Only very, very clever ones. ~John Peel

If you don't make mistakes, you're not working on hard enough problems. And that's a big mistake. ~F. Wikzek

While one person hesitates because he feels inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior. ~Henry C. Link

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field. ~Niels Bohr

That's not serious; it's just human. ~Jerry Kopke

A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying... that he is wiser today than he was yesterday. ~Alexander Pope, in Swift, Miscellanies

The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing. ~John Powell

The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything. ~Edward Phelps

Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster. ~Weston H. Agor

One cannot too soon forget his errors and misdemeanors; for to dwell upon them is to add to the offense. ~Henry David Thoreau

You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm. ~Colette

As long as the world is turning and spinning, we're gonna be dizzy and we're gonna make mistakes. ~Mel Brooks

Our blunders mostly come from letting our wishes interpret our duties. ~Author Unknown

Things could be worse. Suppose your errors were counted and published every day, like those of a baseball player. ~Author Unknown

Mistakes fail in their mission of helping the person who blames them on the other fellow. ~Henry S. Haskins

When you realize you've made a mistake, make amends immediately. It's easier to eat crow while it's still warm. ~Dan Heist

Mistakes are the usual bridge between inexperience and wisdom. ~Phyllis Theroux, Night Lights

If you shut your door to all errors truth will be shut out. ~Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, 1916

A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery. ~James Joyce, Ulysses

Just because you make mistakes doesn't mean you are one. ~Author Unknown

Truth will sooner come out of error than from confusion. ~Francis Bacon

Admit your errors before someone else exaggerates them. ~Andrew V. Mason

In the game of life it's a good idea to have a few early losses, which relieves you of the pressure of trying to maintain an undefeated season. ~Bill Vaughan

From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own. ~Syrus

It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit to forgive them for having witnessed your own. ~Jessamyn West

Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase - that's what wild geese are for. ~Author Unknown

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it. ~Pablo Picasso

When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap. ~Cynthia Heimel, "Lower Manhattan Survival Tactics"

I dip my pen in the blackest ink, because I'm not afraid of falling into my inkpot. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first. ~Frederick B. Wilcox

Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is? ~Frank Scully

Yes, risk taking is inherently failure-prone. Otherwise, it would be called sure-thing-taking. ~Tim McMahon

Many great ideas have been lost because the people who had them could not stand being laughed at. ~Author Unknown

You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take. ~Wayne Gretzky

What is more mortifying than to feel you've missed the Plum for want of courage to shake the Tree? ~Logan Pearsall Smith

A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are for. ~John A. Shedd, Salt from My Attic

The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet. ~Lord Chesterfield, Letters to His Son, 4 October 1746

To win you have to risk loss. ~Jean-Claude Killy

The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one's self to destiny. ~Napoleon Bonaparte

If you're never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances. ~Julia Sorel (Rosalyn Drexler), See How She Runs, 1978

Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise. ~Author Unknown

Prudence keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy. ~Samuel Johnson

This nation was built by men who took risks - pioneers who were not afraid of the wilderness, business men who were not afraid of failure, scientists who were not afraid of the truth, thinkers who were not afraid of progress, dreamers who were not afraid of action. ~Brooks Atkinson

It is better to be bold than too circumspect, because fortune is of a sex which likes not a tardy wooer and repulses all who are not ardent. ~Machiavelli

The healthy being craves an occasional wildness, a jolt from normality, a sharpening of the edge of appetite, his own little festival of the Saturnalia, a brief excursion from his way of life. ~Robert MacIver

Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome. ~Samuel Johnson, Rasselas, 1759

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. ~Robert F. Kennedy

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. ~Seneca

What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail? ~Robert H. Schuller

The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet. ~Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the Titanic. ~Author Unknown

If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being? ~Aleksander Solzhenitsyn

It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves. ~André Gide

Every man has the right to risk his own life in order to preserve it. Has it ever been said that a man who throws himself out the window to escape from a fire is guilty of suicide? ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

There are those who are so scrupulously afraid of doing wrong that they seldom venture to do anything. ~Vauvenargues

Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice. Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. ~André Gide

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. ~James Bryant Conant

You might as well fall flat on your face as lean over too far backward. ~James Thurber

We fail more often by timidity than by over-daring. ~David Grayson

Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down. ~Ray Bradbury

Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing. ~Harriet Braiker

Certain flaws are necessary for the whole. It would seem strange if old friends lacked certain quirks. ~Goethe

No one is perfect... that's why pencils have erasers. ~Author Unknown

A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault. ~John Henry Newman

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That's how the light gets in.
~Leonard Cohen

To escape criticism - do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. ~Elbert Hubbard

Only in grammar can you be more than perfect. ~William Safire

Sometimes... when you hold out for everything, you walk away with nothing. ~From the television show Ally McBeal

Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best. ~Henry van Dyke

Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny. ~Carl Schurz, address, Faneuil Hall, Boston, 1859

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without. ~Confucius, Analects

The most difficult part of attaining perfection is finding something to do for an encore. ~Author Unknown

When you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target. ~George Fisher

Once you accept the fact that you're not perfect, then you develop some confidence. ~Rosalynn Carter

There are no perfect men in this world, only perfect intentions. ~Pen Densham, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

The imperfections of a man, his frailties, his faults, are just as important as his virtues. You can't separate them. They're wedded. ~Henry Miller

Does "anal retentive" have a hyphen? ~Author Unknown

The human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four. Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye. ~Winston Churchill

He who hath not a dram of folly in his mixture hath pounds of much worse matter in his composition. ~Charles Lamb

Even the best needles are not sharp at both ends. ~Chinese Proverb

I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center. ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Player Piano

Unless I accept my faults I will most certainly doubt my virtues. ~Hugh Prather

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Striving to better, oft we mar what's well. ~William Shakespeare, King Lear, 1605

Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it. ~Salvador Dali

All of us failed to match our dreams of perfection. ~William Faulkner

A good garden may have some weeds. ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

The closest to perfection a person ever comes is when he fills out a job application form. ~Stanley J. Randall

I cling to my imperfection, as the very essence of my being. ~Anatole France (Jacques Anatole François Thibault), The Garden of Epicurus, 1894

Congratulations! You're not perfect! It's ridiculous to want to be perfect anyway. But then, everybody's ridiculous sometimes, except perfect people. You know what perfect is? Perfect is not eating or drinking or talking or moving a muscle or making even the teensiest mistake. Perfect is never doing anything wrong - which means never doing anything at all. Perfect is boring! So you're not perfect! Wonderful! Have fun! Eat things that give you bad breath! Trip over your own shoelaces! Laugh! Let somebody else laugh at you! Perfect people never do any of those things. All they do is sit around and sip weak tea and think about how perfect they are. But they're really not one-hundred-percent perfect anyway. You should see them when they get the hiccups! Phooey! Who needs 'em? You can drink pickle juice and imitate gorillas and do silly dances and sing stupid songs and wear funny hats and be as imperfect as you please and still be a good person. Good people are hard to find nowadays. And they're a lot more fun than perfect people any day of the week. ~Stephen Manes, Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days!

He that will have a perfect brother must resign himself to remain brotherless. ~Italian Proverb

You see, when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out. ~Martha Graham

One minute was enough, Tyler said, a person had to work hard for it, but a minute of perfection was worth the effort. A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection. ~Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

When nobody around you seems to measure up, it's time to check your yardstick. ~Bill Lemley

Living up to ideals is like doing everyday work with your Sunday clothes on. ~Ed Howe

Try as hard as we may for perfection, the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectness. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways. ~Samuel McChord Crothers