“He said nothing: seldom do those who are silent make mistakes.”
Neil Gaiman (1960) English fantasy writer
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.”
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."
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Joseph Conrad127
Polish-British writer 1857–1924Related quotes
“He who does nothing makes no mistakes; he who makes no mistakes learns nothing.”
Luca Pacioli (1445–1517) Italian father of accounting
Ingvar Kamprad (1926–2018) Entrepreneur
"The Testament of a Furniture Dealer" http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/pdf/reports-downloads/the-testament-of-a-furniture-dealer.pdf (1976).
“one who makes no mistakes makes nothing”
Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright
Preface
1910s, The Doctor's Dilemma (1911)
Variant: A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
Context: Attention and activity lead to mistakes as well as to successes; but a life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
“In life, those who want to be happy make mistakes.”
Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer
Original: (it) Nella vita, chi vuole essere felice commette errori.
Source: prevale.net
“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).