An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a very narrow field.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- An expert is someone who has made many mistakes but only within a very small area.
- In plain terms
- Experts know all mistakes in their small field.
- What can you take from it?
- Specialization limits error range.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What defines an expert?
- How do mistakes build expertise?
Another view
It dismisses the value of broad knowledge.
More from Niels Bohr
Two sorts of truth: trivialities, where opposites are obviously absurd, and profound truths, recognised by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth.
Permalink to quote #11 Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question.
Permalink to quote #13 How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.
Permalink to quote #10
Related quotes
An expert is someone who knows some of the worst mistakes that can be made in his subject, and how to avoid them.
Werner HeisenbergWerner Heisenberg quote #4 Try to know everything of something and something of everything.
Henry BroughamHenry Brougham quote #9 The intellectual world is divided into two classes - dilettantes, on the one hand, and pedants, on the other.
Miguel de UnamunoMiguel de Unamuno quote #21