"To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all"
About this Quote
The line slips a barb into what sounds like friendly self-help: the real failure isn’t the wrong turn you took, it’s building your life around never taking one. McWilliams frames “mistakes” as inevitable, even useful, then flips the moral ledger so avoidance becomes the heavier sin. It’s a clever bit of rhetorical judo: he takes a word we’re trained to fear and turns it into a metric for whether you’re actually living, learning, and choosing.
The intent is less “be brave” than “notice the hidden cost of safety.” Avoidance masquerades as prudence, maturity, professionalism. In practice it often reads as reputational management: keeping your record clean, your ego intact, your story unchallenged. McWilliams makes that strategy look small. If you structure your days to eliminate error, you also eliminate experimentation, intimacy, ambition - the very arenas where growth happens. The subtext is that perfectionism is not high standards; it’s a lifestyle of preemptive surrender.
Context matters. McWilliams wrote across countercultural, health, and personal-freedom lanes, and his public life included high-stakes clashes with authority. In that light, “situations” isn’t abstract. It’s the messy, politicized, consequence-heavy world where choices can backfire. The quote isn’t naive about risk; it’s arguing that opting out is still a choice, and it taxes you quietly over time. Mistakes sting once. Avoidance compounds.
The intent is less “be brave” than “notice the hidden cost of safety.” Avoidance masquerades as prudence, maturity, professionalism. In practice it often reads as reputational management: keeping your record clean, your ego intact, your story unchallenged. McWilliams makes that strategy look small. If you structure your days to eliminate error, you also eliminate experimentation, intimacy, ambition - the very arenas where growth happens. The subtext is that perfectionism is not high standards; it’s a lifestyle of preemptive surrender.
Context matters. McWilliams wrote across countercultural, health, and personal-freedom lanes, and his public life included high-stakes clashes with authority. In that light, “situations” isn’t abstract. It’s the messy, politicized, consequence-heavy world where choices can backfire. The quote isn’t naive about risk; it’s arguing that opting out is still a choice, and it taxes you quietly over time. Mistakes sting once. Avoidance compounds.
Quote Details
| Topic | Learning from Mistakes |
|---|
More Quotes by Peter
Add to List
