Science, my lad, has been built upon many errors; but they are errors which it was good to fall into, for they led to the truth.

[La science, mon garçon, est faite d’erreurs, mais d’erreurs qu’il est bon de commettre, car elles mènent peu à peu à la vérité.]

Jules Verne (1828-1905) French novelist, poet, playwright

Journey to the Center of the Earth, ch. 31 (1864) [tr. Malleson (1877)]
    (Source)

Alt. trans.: "Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth."