Quote #0
No generalization is wholly true—not even this one.
Anonymous
About This Quote
The line is used as a self-referential joke to warn that broad claims usually have exceptions, even when the claim itself is about generalizations.
Interpretation
It highlights the limits of absolute statements: any rule stated without qualification is likely to fail somewhere, and the quote performs that point by undermining itself.
Variations
All generalizations are false, including this one.
No generalization is wholly true—not even this one.
No generalization is quite true; not even this one!
No generalization is accurate—not even this one.
Misattributions
- Mark Twain
- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
- Alexandre Dumas fils
- Ben Jonson
- Benjamin Disraeli
- Alexander Chase
