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Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things.
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“Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn things.”

William James

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Source
The Will to Believe, and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy
Date
1897
Meaning

Meaning of “Our errors are surely not such awfully solemn…”

James resists treating every possible intellectual mistake as catastrophic, because an excessive fear of error can itself prevent inquiry, experience and the possibility of gaining truth.

Source context

Where does it come from?

The Will to Believe, essay “The Will to Believe”; Project Gutenberg #26659. James is contrasting the risk of being mistaken with the cost of refusing every uncertain intellectual venture.

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AttitudeCourage Quotes About Acting Despite FearCuriosityFailureFearGrowthGrowth MindsetHumilityInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityLearning Quotes About Curiosity, Study & ExperienceLifeLife AdviceLife LessonsMindMindsetMotivation For LifeSelf ImprovementShortStrengthThinking Quotes About Reasoning, Reflection & JudgmentUnderstandingMistakesPerspective
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A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.
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“A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”

Thomas Paine · Common Sense · 1776
Meaning & context

Custom can disguise error by making the familiar feel legitimate; critical judgment requires re-examining practices that have escaped scrutiny through repetition.

Source details

Common Sense (1776), Introduction. The represented opening sentence is verified in Project Gutenberg #147 and the validated scan-backed Wikisource transcription; Paine argues that familiarity can make a wrong practice appear right before public argument unsettles the custom.

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We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success.
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“We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success.”

Samuel Smiles · Self-Help · 1859
Meaning & context

Failure can expose what does not work and force closer observation, turning setbacks into information that uncomplicated success may never reveal.

Source details

Self-Help, Chapter XI, “Self-Culture—Facilities and Difficulties,” Project Gutenberg #935. The passage follows Charles James Fox’s contrast between early success and perseverance after failure, then leads into examples of discoveries and learning produced through mistakes and failed attempts.

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I must think over things for myself and get to understand them.
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“I must think over things for myself and get to understand them.”

Henrik Ibsen · A Doll's House · 1879
Voice: Fictional character · Nora Helmer
Meaning & context

Nora claims the responsibility to examine received beliefs for herself, making independent thought part of her attempt to understand her own identity and circumstances.

Source details

A Doll’s House, Act III, R. Farquharson Sharp translation, Project Gutenberg #15492. Nora Helmer says she must think things over for herself during the final confrontation with Torvald, after saying she must educate herself and stand alone. This is fictional dramatic speech, not Ibsen autobiography or contemporary family / legal guidance.

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it is only when he has turned it over that he can be said to know it.
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“it is only when he has turned it over that he can be said to know it.”

Arthur Schopenhauer · The Art of Literature · 1851
Meaning & context

Learning becomes knowledge, in this account, when material has been actively reconsidered and integrated rather than merely encountered or memorized.

Source details

The Art of Literature, section “On Thinking for Oneself,” T. Bailey Saunders translation; Project Gutenberg #10714. The preceding sentence says a person must first learn something before turning it over in the mind.

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A pupil from whom nothing is ever demanded which he cannot do, never does all he can.
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“A pupil from whom nothing is ever demanded which he cannot do, never does all he can.”

John Stuart Mill · Autobiography · 1873
Meaning & context

The sentence argues that education needs genuine stretch: always keeping demands inside proven ability can leave capacity underused.

Source details

Autobiography, Chapter I; Mill reflects critically on his father’s demanding teaching while preserving this principle about intellectual effort.

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If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
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“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.”

Francis Bacon · The Advancement of Learning · 1605
Meaning & context

Intellectual confidence can be improved by beginning with questions rather than pretending certainty too early.

Source details

The Advancement of Learning, First Book, Project Gutenberg #5500, transcribed from the 1893 Cassell & Company edition. Bacon contrasts impatience of doubt with mature suspension of judgment and then sets out two ways of contemplation before saying that beginning with certainties ends in doubts while beginning with doubts can end in certainties. It remains early-modern epistemological argument rather than a modern experimental rule for scientific method.

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