who never makes a mistake

Roosevelt is no more infallible than the rest of us. Over and over again I have seen him pause when he had decided upon his line of action, and review it to see where there was a chance for mistake. Finding none, he would issue his order with the sober comment: “There, we have done the best we could. If there is any mistake we will make it right. The fear of it shall not deter us from doing our duty. The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.”

Theodore Roosevelt

1900 August, The American Monthly Review of Reviews, Volume 22, Number 2, Theodore Roosevelt by Jacob A. Riis, Start Page 181, Quote Page 184, Column 2, Published by The Review of Reviews Company, New York. (Google Books Full View). As found in 2022 Great Quotes From Great Leaders Boxed Calendar: 365 Inspirational Quotes From Leaders Who Shaped the World. See also "The Person Who Never Makes a Mistake Will Never Make Anything," Quote Investigator. December 16, 20214. 

This was a popular phrase widely in circulation at the time of Theodore Roosevelt's statement. Here are some of my favorites:

• 1832: It has been justly observed, that he who never makes an effort, never risks a failure, and, “In great attempts ’tis glorious to fail!” (The New Sporting Magazine)
• 1859: We learn wisdom from failure more than from success: we often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and he who never made a mistake, never made a discovery. (Samuel Smiles)
• 1897: THE INFALLIBLE MAN - There was a man who never made, A blunder in his life; He loved a girl, but was afraid, If she became his wife, That he or she might rue the day, That brought them bliss; and so, He put the happiness away, That wedded lovers know. (The Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo)
• 1903: The man who does things makes many mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all—doing nothing. (Poor Richard Junior’s Philosophy)
• 1903: ‘He who never does anything wrong, seldom, if ever, does anything right,’ and a man whom I know you particularly admire expresses the same thing when he says, ‘A man who never makes mistakes, never makes anything.’ All the wise men of all ages have called attention to the one trait in which all humanity is alike, namely the liability to make mistakes. (Leo Tolstoy)