Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.
Interpretation
Acknowledging our flawed understanding is essential and correcting our mistakes is a virtue.
This quote by George Soros emphasizes that it is a fundamental aspect of being human to have an imperfect understanding of the world. Rather than feeling ashamed about making mistakes, we should focus on the importance of recognizing and correcting them, as this is a key part of personal growth and learning.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth and learning from failures.
The securitisation of mortgages added a new dimension of systemic risk. Financial engineers claimed they were reducing risks through geographic diversification: in fact they were increasing them by creating an agency problem. The agents were more interested in maximising fee income than in protecting the interests of bondholders. That is the verity that was ignored by regulators and market participants alike.
The collapse of the global marketplace would be a traumatic event with unimaginable consequences. Yet I find it easier to imagine than the continuation of the present regime.
Regulating and taxing marijuana would simultaneously save taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement and incarceration costs, while providing many billions of dollars in revenue annually.
We are the most powerful nation on earth. No external power, no terrorist organization can defeat us. But we can defeat ourselves by getting caught in a quagmire.
My foundations support people in the country who care about an open society. It's their work that I'm supporting. So it's not me doing it. But I can empower them. I can support them, and I can help them.
The criminalization of marijuana did not prevent marijuana from becoming the most widely used illegal substance in the United States and many other countries. But it did result in extensive costs and negative consequences.
Look at life through the wrong end of the telescope.
At the risk of appearing predictable, the Bible was and remains the biggest influence on my thinking. I was raised reading it, memorizing passages from it and being guided by it. I still find it a source of wisdom, comfort and encouragement.
So perhaps the best thing to do is to stop writing Introductions and get on with the book.
Not until you become a stranger to yourself will you be able to make acquaintance with the Friend.
I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom.
Usage is like oxygen for ideas. That means every moment you're working on something without it being in the public it's actually dying, deprived of the oxygen of the real world.
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