1663) I want to suggest to you today, that unless we have a tolerant attitude toward mistakes - I might almost say "a positive attitude toward them" - we shall be behaving irrationally, unscientifically, and unsuccessfully.

Now, of course, if you now say to me, "Look here, you weird Limey, are you seriously advocating relaunching the Edsel?" I will reply, "No." There are mistakes - and mistakes. There are true, copper-bottom mistakes like spelling the word "rabbit" with three Ms; wearing a black bra under a white shirt; or, to take a more masculine example, starting a land war in Asia. These are the kind of mistakes described by Mr. David Letterman as Brushes With Stupidity, because they have no reasonable chance of success.

But I’m talking about mistakes which, at the time they were committed, did have a chance. The problem may be linguistic -- we don’t have a good word for “a reasonable try which didn’t come off.”

All of which ties in with my experience of what makes a group function more creatively. People must lose their inhibitions. They must gain the confidence to contribute spontaneously to what’s happening. Inhibition arises because of the fear of looking foolish, the fear of making mistakes. People are held back by this fear; they go over each thought they have six times before expressing it, in case someone will think it’s “wrong.” While this is going on, nothing useful can happen creatively.

A positive attitude towards mistakes will allow them to be corrected rapidly when they occur. We all know that when we and our colleagues admit our mistakes, it’s comparatively easy to put them right. The problems come when mistakes are denied. If you don't acknowledge a mistake, you can’t correct it.

John Cleese
The Importance of Mistakes
(motivational speech and training video, 1988)
posted (in part) by Bill Gascoyne [UAQ] (2/1/1996)

1664) Persistence in error is the problem. Practitioners of government continue down the wrong road as if in thrall to some Merlin with magic power to direct their steps. [...] [T]o recognize error, to cut losses, to alter course, is the most repugnant option in government.

Barbara W. Tuchman
The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam (1984)

1665) America has been the world's most successful assimilator of different people. Changing from assimilation to separatism, as seems to be happening now, threatens to fracture the brittle bonds which hold our nation together.

Gregory Benford
"A Scientist's Notebook: America As Rome" in
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (3/1996)

1666) America has become a clapping nation. Television, always the bellwether, teaches how: watch as audiences on game and talkshows clap not to express approval but to provide punctuation. They clap before commercials and after commercials, when someone enters and when someone leaves, when they are told to and when they are not.

Ethan Mordden
"Quick: Name a Hot, New Musical Star" in
Sunday New York Times Art & Leisure Section (1/28/1995)