“Anything is better than stagnation.”
Source: The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
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Arthur Conan Doyle 166
Scottish physician and author 1859–1930Related quotes
“It's better to have something to remember than anything to regret.”
Source: The Real Frank Zappa Book
“Making mistakes is a lot better than not doing anything.”
Source: Book 2, Chapter 1 “The Lake of Voices” (p. 197), Corum, The Queen of the Swords (1971)
“It is far better to become something than to remain anything but become nothing.”
Source: Books, Beyond Order (2021), p. 188
1980s and later, Interview in Silver & Gold Report (1980)
Progress, Coexistence and Intellectual Freedom (1968), Dangers, The Threat to Intellectual Freedom
Context: A system of education under government control, separation of school and church, universal free education — all these are great achievements of social progress. But everything has a reverse side. In this case it is excessive standardization, extending to the teaching process itself, to the curriculum, especially in literature, history, civics, geography, and to the system of examinations.
One cannot but see a danger in excessive reference to authority and in the limitation of discussion and intellectual boldness at an age when personal convictions are beginning to be formed. In the old China, the systems of examinations for official positions led to mental stagnation and to the canonizing of the reactionary aspects of Confucianism. It is highly undesirable to have anything like that in a modern society.
