"It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I'm right"
About this Quote
Moliere captures the comic paradox of pride: nothing angers a person more than being proven wrong precisely at the moment of greatest certainty. The line turns on a deliberate contradiction. If I know I am right, how can I be wrong? That tangle is the joke, but also a precise map of human psychology. We invest our identities in our judgments; to be contradicted feels like an attack, so the ego doubles down. The fury is not about facts but about status, self-image, and control.
Few writers understood this better than the great satirist of Louis XIVs France. His comedies dissect the gap between how people see themselves and what they truly are. Alceste in The Misanthrope cannot bear the worlds compromises and erupts whenever others suggest his severity misfires; his conviction is its own courtroom. Orgon in Tartuffe is so sure of his piety and discernment that he ignores every sign of hypocrisy, and his indignation grows in proportion to the evidence against him. Argan in The Imaginary Invalid is certain of his illnesses and rages when others hint that the doctors may be quacks. Each figure knows he is right, and the insistence makes him wrong.
The line also reads as a sly social observation. Court culture prized appearances, deference, and the quick wit of salons; admitting error could be costly. Comedy becomes a safe stage for displaying the dangers of inflexible certainty. By laughing at the character who cannot tolerate being mistaken, audiences recognize their own reflex to protect cherished beliefs.
Underneath the wit is a plea for epistemic humility. Anger, in this framing, is an alarm that pride is steering the mind. The better response is curiosity and revision, yet people often choose indignation because it feels like strength. Moliere’s brilliance lies in showing that the heat of being wrong while feeling right is both ridiculous and universal.
Few writers understood this better than the great satirist of Louis XIVs France. His comedies dissect the gap between how people see themselves and what they truly are. Alceste in The Misanthrope cannot bear the worlds compromises and erupts whenever others suggest his severity misfires; his conviction is its own courtroom. Orgon in Tartuffe is so sure of his piety and discernment that he ignores every sign of hypocrisy, and his indignation grows in proportion to the evidence against him. Argan in The Imaginary Invalid is certain of his illnesses and rages when others hint that the doctors may be quacks. Each figure knows he is right, and the insistence makes him wrong.
The line also reads as a sly social observation. Court culture prized appearances, deference, and the quick wit of salons; admitting error could be costly. Comedy becomes a safe stage for displaying the dangers of inflexible certainty. By laughing at the character who cannot tolerate being mistaken, audiences recognize their own reflex to protect cherished beliefs.
Underneath the wit is a plea for epistemic humility. Anger, in this framing, is an alarm that pride is steering the mind. The better response is curiosity and revision, yet people often choose indignation because it feels like strength. Moliere’s brilliance lies in showing that the heat of being wrong while feeling right is both ridiculous and universal.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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