A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet
“Thoughts on Various Subjects” (1727)
This essay was published in Jonathan Swift, Miscellanies. It is sometimes incorrectly attributed to Swift, in his essay of the same name, published as ch. 16 in his The Battle of the Books And Other Short Pieces.
I originally had a copy of this quote under Swift (as cited above) as well as here. Many thanks to reader Jeremy who emailed me with his research about this.