QuoteProject
Most deadly errors arise from obsolete assumptions.
Frank Herbert
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Outdated beliefs can lead to serious mistakes.

This quote emphasizes the danger of holding onto outdated assumptions, suggesting that many critical errors stem from an unwillingness to adapt or reassess our beliefs in light of new information. It serves as a reminder to continuously evaluate our understanding of the world and remain open to change to avoid potentially harmful consequences.

Themes

ErrorsAssumptionsChangeWisdomAdaptation

In practice

Example use cases

During a team meeting, referencing this quote could encourage colleagues to question outdated methods.

More from Frank Herbert

My father once told me that respect for truth comes close to being the basis for all morality. 'Something cannot emerge from nothing,' he said. This is profound thinking if you understand how unstable 'the truth' can be.
Frank HerbertRead
If you need something to worship, then worship life - all life, every last crawling bit of it! We're all in this beauty together!
Frank HerbertRead
Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, "I am not the kind of person I want to be." It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.
Frank HerbertRead
To know a thing well, know it's limits; Only when pushed beyond it's tolerance will it's true nature be seen. -The Amtal Rule
Frank HerbertRead
Technology tends toward avoidance of risks by investors. Uncertainty is ruled out if possible. People generally prefer the predictable. Few recognize how destructive this can be, how it imposes severe limits on variability and thus makes whole populations fatally vulnerable to the shocking ways our universe can throw the dice.
Frank HerbertRead
It is impossible to live in the past, difficult to live in the present and a waste to live in the future.
Frank HerbertRead

Similar quotes

Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost.
Henry David ThoreauRead
My hunger and curiosity drive me forward in all directions at once.
Henry MillerRead
It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.
J. R. R. TolkienRead
The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.
Madeleine L'EngleRead
Avoid the tyranny of the reasonable voice...it will guarantee a complacency of never trying anything adventurous.
J. Michael StraczynskiRead
Filth and old age, I'm sure you will agree, are powerful wardens upon chastity.
Geoffrey ChaucerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Frank Herbert | QuoteProject