Source: Norse Mythology (2017), Chapter 4, “Mimir’s Head and Odin’s Eye” (p. 45)
“It's only those who do nothing that make no mistakes, I suppose.”
Joseph Conrad book An Outcast of the Islands
Source: An Outcast of the Islands (1896), Pt. 3, Ch. 2; possibly an adaptation of a Polish proverb, "Ten się nie myli, kto nic nie robi" — "One is not wrong, who does nothing."
“He who does nothing makes no mistakes; he who makes no mistakes learns nothing.”
Luca Pacioli (1445–1517) Italian father of accounting
Anthony de Mello (1931–1987) Indian writer
Source: One Minute Nonsense (1992), p. 21
Context: "Tell me," said the atheist, "Is there a God — really?"
Said the master, "If you want me to be perfectly honest with you, I will not answer."
Later the disciples demanded to know why he had not answered.
"Because the question is unanswerable," said the Master.
"So you are an atheist?"
"Certainly not. The atheist makes the mistake of denying that of which nothing may be said... and the theist makes the mistake of affirming it.
“one who makes no mistakes makes nothing”
Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice
“Those who are making history seldom have time to record it.”
Luther Burbank (1849–1926) American botanist, horticulturist and pioneer in agricultural science
A Word to the Reader, (July 1, 1920) How Plants are Trained to Work for Man: Plant breeding (1921) Vol. 1. https://books.google.com/books?id=E0MyAQAAMAAJ
“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
Edmund Burke (1729–1797) Anglo-Irish statesman
Not found in Burke's writings. Appears to be a paraphrase of "It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little." sourced to Sydney Smith (1771 - 1845).
James Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) Missionary in China
(J. Hudson Taylor. Separation and Service: Or Thoughts on Numbers VI, VII. London: Morgan & Scott, n.d., 105).
