[Ads-l] Quote Origin: It is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

I received a request to explore the provenance of the expression in
the subject line which has been attributed to economist John Maynard
Keynes and logician Carveth Read. While researching I encountered two
seemingly contradictory popular adages:

(1) It is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong
(2) It is better to be definitely wrong than vaguely right

Tracing these dual notions is difficult because they can be expressed
in numerous ways. Below is an overview depicting the evolution of
these sayings with attributions and dates. The statement from Francis
Bacon is a precursor for the second adage:

1620: Citius emergit Veritas ex errore quam ex confusion (Francis Bacon)

1620: Truth emerges more readily from error than confusion (Francis
Bacon rendered into English)

1898: It is better to be vaguely right than exactly wrong (Carveth Read)

1903: To be only vaguely right is worse than being definitely wrong
(Unknown person with initials A. J. O.)

1929: Greater service to the cause of philosophical truth is ever done
by being definitely wrong than by being vaguely right (Curt John
Ducasse)

1933: It is better to be definitely wrong than vaguely right (Ian D. Suttie)

1936: Mandeville, Malthus, Gesell and Hobson … preferred to see the
truth obscurely and imperfectly rather than to maintain error, reached
… on hypotheses inappropriate to the facts (John Maynard Keynes)

1942: It is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong
(Attributed to Wildon Carr by Gerald Shove)

1955: It was better to be roughly right than precisely wrong (K. Smith)

1960: I would prefer to be vaguely right than precisely wrong (Sydney J. Harris)

1966: It is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong
(Attributed to John Maynard Keynes in "The Accountants Digest")

1969: It is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong
(Attributed to John Maynard Keynes by Howard Ross)

1978: It is far better to be clearly and definitely wrong than to be
vaguely and indefinitely right (J. Lorne McDougall)

1979: It is better to be precisely wrong than roughly accurate (Edmond
A. Murphy)

2009: It was better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong
(Attributed to John Maynard Keynes by Anthony Hilton)

Here is a link to the Quote Investigator article:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/05/23/vague-exact/

Feedback welcome
Garson

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