If it is sweet to be right, then - let's not deny it - it is downright savory to point out that someone else is wrong.

Take away the ability of an intelligent, principled, hard-working mind to get it wrong, and you take away the whole thing.

We need to learn to love the flawed, imperfect things that we create, and to forgive ourselves for creating them. Regret doesen't remind us what we did badly, it reminds us what we know we could do better.

Parading our own brilliance and exulting in other people's errors is not very nice. For that matter, even wanting to parade our own brilliance and exult in other people's errors is not very nice, although it is certainly very human.

The kinds of things that we can make mistakes about are essentially unlimited in number.

I had drunk our great cultural Kool-Aid about regret, which is that lamenting things that occurred in the past is an absolute waste of time, that we should always look forward and not backward, and that one of the noblest and best things we can do is strive to live a life free of regrets.

both doubt and certainty are as contagious as the common cold