Tim Harford Quotes

In testing, you make a mistake, you just say 'OK we'll have another go' instead of it being the only chance you get.

Be fearless and don't be afraid of failure. There is no better way to learn than through trial-and-error.

Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly, and try another. But by all means, try something.

Sometimes, we find what we want by also finding out what you don't want. All of that is trial and error. Once you're in that pit, the trial and error is important. It's up to us; we've got to keep moving forward.

Some mistakes will be made along the way. That's good. Because some decisions are being made along the way. We'll find the mistakes. We'll fix them.

If a man didn't make mistakes he'd own the world in a month.But if he didn't profit by his mistakes he wouldn't own a blessed thing.

Success Comes Through Rapidly Fixing our Mistakes Rather than Getting Things Right the First Time.

When you don't know what to do, try something; if that doesn't work, try something else.

When your way doesn't work, don't be disheartened. You must be willing to try another way. A closed door doesn't mean you have been cut off permanently. It is a challenge, an obstacle, a tool to be used.

We all make mistakes. If you can't make mistakes, you can't make decisions. I've made a lot bigger mistakes myself.

If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon. And if you're not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve.

You can't be afraid to fail. It's the only way you succeed - you're not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that.

I didn't like the idea of being foolish, but I learned pretty soon that it was essential to fail and be foolish.

Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.

One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment... If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.

You need the willingness to fail all the time.

Every time you find something that doesn't work, you're a step closer to what does work.

You know, the whole philosophy of ad hoc combinations has its strengths and its weaknesses.

The fellow who never makes a mistake takes his orders from one who does.

A mistake is simply another way of doing things.

I have ideas that I think might be amusing, and I try them, and if they look right, I carry them out, and if they don't, I throw them out and try something else. I don't agonize about it.

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.

We need to accept that we won't always make the right decisions, that we'll screw up royally sometimes - understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it's part of success.

Focused, hard work is the real key to success. Keep your eyes on the goal, and just keep taking the next step towards completing it. If you aren't sure which way to do something, do it both ways and see which works better.

Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.