Better to Say Sorry than to Ask Permission

Posted on | March 11, 2009 | No Comments

I’ve read that phrase numerous times from the quips of two Bugzilla systems. Both systems did not cite the original person who coined the phrase, which make me believe that it was entered by the founder of companies to encourage employees to take bold decissions.

Once I did consciously decided to do something extraordinarily bold in my first company. I did get into a little bit of trouble, so I did have to say sorry. I am not sure if I would have been better of to ask permission first, no one would ever know. But getting into trouble was never fun, and it would deter most people to be bold.

Today I read the quip again as I was working on my bug queue. So all the memories came back, and something tickled me; I had to find out the person who first coined the phrase.

I then Good old Google helped me find out that Admiral Grace Murray Hopper coined the phrase: “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.”

Now one should notice that Admiral Hopper never said about what is better, she just said about what is easier. There is a big difference there as she was not suggesting any moral weight of being bold. She was talking about practicality…

It’s not hard to deduce that the person who coined the phrase “Better to say sorry than to ask permission” is the person who first wrongly quoted Admiral Hopper. So now it’s really up to you if you want to believe that it’s better to say sorry than to ask around first. I personally believe in being bold, but I think boldness needs to be balanced with wisdom. The more you know about something, the more you can be bold about it.

But worst is if you have to say sorry for doing nothing, not even asking for permission.

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