Quote of the Day: Max Born on Daily Inspiration

If you’ve been waiting for a sign to soften your grip on being “right” and strengthen your grip on getting closer to what’s real, let this be it. “The belief that there is only one truth, and that oneself is in possession of it, is the root of all evil in the world.”

Max Born is pointing at a quiet mental switch: the moment certainty stops being a tool and becomes an identity. When you believe you hold the final truth, disagreement no longer feels like information, it feels like an attack. And once another person is framed as a threat, the next steps come easily: dismissal, ridicule, censorship, punishment. That pattern scales from comment sections to companies to nations.

There’s a practical way out: treat your beliefs like working drafts, not sacred trophies. In your next conversation, aim for clarity over victory. Ask, “What would change my mind?” Then actually listen for an answer. This posture doesn’t make you passive, it makes you precise. It reduces needless conflict, improves decision-making, and keeps your relationships breathable. Humility is not self-erasure; it’s a commitment to learning.

Max Born earned the Nobel Prize for foundational contributions to quantum mechanics, helping define how wave functions connect to measurable reality. A scientist trained to let evidence correct him understood that progress depends on disciplined doubt, not loud certainty.

Today, practice one small act of intellectual courage: choose one opinion you’ve been defending and seek the strongest argument against it for ten focused minutes, then write a single sentence beginning, “I might be wrong if…” May your pursuit of truth expand your freedom rather than shrink someone else’s.