Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippics (44 BC)

Genuine

Yes. In Philippics (44 BC), Twelfth Philippic, section 5 (Philippics XII.2.5).

Found word for word by program in the Latin original and in Charles Duke Yonge’s English translation (1903).

The wording people share comes from a later translation; Yonge’s words are underlined below.

Work
Philippics (Philippicae), 44 BC
Where
Twelfth Philippic, section 5 (Philippics XII.2.5)
Found at
Paragraph 6 of the Latin text, 6 of the English
Translation
Charles Duke Yonge, 1903

Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check

On the page

¶5 en¶5 la

[…] And they make that statement now, after they think that we are involved in a pacific embassy. What need have we, then, of any new determination, if no new circumstances have arisen to call for one?

[…] Si iacens vobiscum aliquid ageret, audirem fortasse; quamquam—sed hoc malo dicere ‘audirem’; stanti resistendum est aut concedenda una cum dignitate libertas.

¶6 en¶6 la
English, Charles Duke Yonge, 1903

[…] “But, however, that matter is not open for consideration now, an embassy has been appointed.” But what is there which is not open for consideration to a wise man, as long as it can be remodelled? Any man is liable to a mistake; but no one but a downright fool will persist in error.1 For second thoughts, as people say, are best. The mist which I spoke of just now is dispelled, light has arisen, the case is plain—we see everything, and that not by our own acuteness, but we are warned by our friends.

Latin, the original

[5] At non est integrum; constituta legatio est. Quid autem non integrum est sapienti, quod restitui potest? Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare. Posteriores enim cogitationes, ut aiunt, sapientiores solent esse. Discussa est illa caligo, quam paulo ante dixi; diluxit, patet, videmus omnia, neque per nos solum, sed admonemur a nostris. Attendistis, paulo ante praestantissimi viri quae esset oratio. ‘Maestam’, inquit, ‘domum offendi, coniugem, liberos. […]

¶7 en¶7 la

You heard just now what was the statement made by a most admirable man. I found, said he, his house, his wife, his children, all in great distress. […]

[6] Ad eum ire te legatum quis non miraretur? De me experior, cuius idem consilium quod tuum sentio quam reprehendatur. Nos reprehendimur soli? […]

¶8 en¶8 la

But if an error has been committed, O conscript fathers, owing to a groundless and fallacious hope, let us return into the right road. The best harbour for a penitent is a change of intention.

[7] Quodsi est erratum, patres conscripti, spe falsa atque fallaci, redeamus in viam. Optimus est portus paenitenti mutatio consilii. [III] Quid enim potest, per deos inmortales! rei publicae prodesse nostra legatio? […]

The scene

Early in 43 BC Antony was besieging Decimus Brutus at Mutina, and Antony’s friends in the senate said he was now ready to come to terms. A second embassy to him was proposed, and Cicero had agreed to be one of the five envoys. In this speech he takes that back: he says he and the senate were deceived by false hopes of peace, that the embassy only buys Antony time, and that an earlier decision is no reason to keep to a wrong one. He spoke so strongly that the embassy was dropped.

What it means

Anyone can be wrong; what is foolish is to stay wrong once you see it. Cicero says it of himself, to justify changing his mind in public.

Often misread

Usually quoted as a jab at someone else’s stubbornness. Cicero is first of all excusing his own mistake: he had backed the embassy and here reverses himself, and the saying is his defence for doing so. It is also often run together with ‘To err is human’ (Latin ‘errare humanum est’), a later proverb whose wording is not in this speech.

Also shared as

  • Another public-domain translationEvery man may err, but no man who is not a fool may persist in error. The rendering in T. B. Harbottle’s Dictionary of Quotations (Classical), 1897, as listed by WIST. (Harbottle’s book not seen here; the wording is as WIST gives it.) Where it was seen
  • The form on posters and social mediaAny man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error. The popular form: a loose modern rendering of Philippic XII.5, credited to Cicero without a source (the page prints it without the final full stop). BrainyQuote lists it too, but its page could not be fetched (403). Where it was seen
  • A misquotationAny man can make mistakes, but only a fool persists in his error. Wikiquote prints this as a variant under De Inventione II.9 (its ‘Section 2.9.3’), whose sentence (‘non enim parum cognosse, sed in parum cognito stulte et diu perseverasse turpe est’) is a kindred thought in other words; the wording follows Philippic XII.5. Where it was seen

A similar thought

  • Alexander Pope, 1711: ‘To err is human, to forgive divine’: the best-known English form of the thought that error is common to all, with a different second half.

Topics

Reason, Change, Wisdom

Related quotes

Sources

Cite it

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Philippics (44 BC), Twelfth Philippic, section 5 (Philippics XII.2.5), translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1903). Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/any-man-can-make-mistakes/ (31 October 2026).

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