"A man should never be ashamed to own that he has been in the wrong, which is but saying... that he is wiser today than yesterday"
About this Quote
Pride is the easiest vice to dress up as principle, and Swift is yanking off the costume. The line flatters the reader into virtue by reframing a public embarrassment as a private promotion: admitting you were wrong is not humiliation, its evidence of upgrade. That ellipsis, that casual "which is but saying...", carries a sly impatience with the melodrama people attach to being corrected. You can almost hear Swift shrug: the whole thing is simpler than your ego wants it to be.
The intent is practical moral engineering. Swift knew that shame is a social weapon, and that most people would rather defend a bad position than hand their enemies a victory. So he offers an alternative social script: confession as competence. You do not lose status by changing your mind; you advertise mental mobility. In a culture where honor and reputation were currency, thats a subversive pitch.
The subtext bites harder. If wisdom is "today", then stubbornness is a kind of self-imposed antiquity. Swift is implying that the person who refuses to concede is choosing yesterday on purpose, clinging to error because it feels like identity. Its also a quiet warning about politics and religion in his era, where factions treated consistency as holiness. Swift, master of satire, is not celebrating softness; hes celebrating intellectual discipline. The wise man doesnt collect correct opinions like trophies. He treats being wrong as raw material, and the refusal to admit it as the real disgrace.
The intent is practical moral engineering. Swift knew that shame is a social weapon, and that most people would rather defend a bad position than hand their enemies a victory. So he offers an alternative social script: confession as competence. You do not lose status by changing your mind; you advertise mental mobility. In a culture where honor and reputation were currency, thats a subversive pitch.
The subtext bites harder. If wisdom is "today", then stubbornness is a kind of self-imposed antiquity. Swift is implying that the person who refuses to concede is choosing yesterday on purpose, clinging to error because it feels like identity. Its also a quiet warning about politics and religion in his era, where factions treated consistency as holiness. Swift, master of satire, is not celebrating softness; hes celebrating intellectual discipline. The wise man doesnt collect correct opinions like trophies. He treats being wrong as raw material, and the refusal to admit it as the real disgrace.
Quote Details
| Topic | Learning from Mistakes |
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