Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Truth is not original; error is the starting point.
In plain terms
Original truth does not exist; only original error.
What can you take from it?
Accept that errors begin the path to truth.

Where it applies

  • research
  • debate
  • innovation

Putting it to work

  • expect mistakes
  • test hypotheses
  • learn from failure

Questions to consider

  • Is all knowledge based on error?
  • What is original truth?

Another view

Some truths may be original discoveries.

More from Gaston Bachelard

  1. To live life well is to express life poorly; if one expresses life too well, one is living it no longer.

    Permalink to quote #19

  2. To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry.

    Permalink to quote #21

  3. The words of the world want to make sentences.

    Permalink to quote #18

Related quotes

  1. Truth lies within a little and certain compass, but error is immense.

    Henry, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke St JohnHenry, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke St John quote #1

  2. Que sais-je?

    Michel de MontaigneMichel de Montaigne quote #1

  3. There are no facts, only interpretations.

    Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche quote #2