--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion…" description: "\"“If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of safety, not of risk”\" — Jane Austen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/jane-austen-39_persuasion_if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion_713509.jpg" --- # If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember… ![“If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of safety, not of risk” quote by Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/jane-austen-39_persuasion_if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion_713509.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/jane-austen-39_persuasion_if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion_713509.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/jane-austen-39_persuasion_if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion_713509.jpg) > ““If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of safety, not of risk”” [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Yielding to safe persuasion can be a mistake; risk‑taking may be wiser. **In simple terms:** Safe persuasion may be wrong; consider risk. Key Takeaway Evaluate when safety is a trap. Themes risk persuasion choice Mood cautious inquisitive Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - business strategy - personal relationships - political lobbying Key Concepts conformity courage Questions to Reflect On - When is safety a poor guide? - How to assess risk versus comfort? A Different Perspective Risk can lead to loss if misjudged. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Persuasion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persuasion/) [Persuasion Exerted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persuasion-exerted-4671655/) [Persuasion Remember](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persuasion-remember-3779751/) [Remember Persuasion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/remember-persuasion-3779752/) [Safety](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/safety/) [Yielding Persuasion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yielding-persuasion-3779753/) ## Related quotes > [“If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of safety, not of risk.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion-once-remember-that-it-was-to/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“You should have distinguished,' replied Anne. 'You should not have suspected me now; the case so different, and my age so different. If I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/you-should-have-distinguished-replied-anne-you-should-not-have/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of safety, not of risk.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion-once-remember-that-it-was-to-3/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“Captain Harvile: Poor Phoebe, she would not have forgotten him so soon. It was not in her nature. Anne Elliot: It would not be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/captain-harvile-poor-phoebe-she-would-not-have-forgotten-him-so-soon/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [Such a letter was not to be soon recovered from. . . . Every moment rather brought fresh agitation. It was an overpowering happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/such-a-letter-was-not-to-be-soon-recovered-from-every-moment-rather/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/you-pierce-my-soul-i-am-half-agony-half-hope-tell-me-not-that-i-am-2/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“Persuasion is not at command; but pardon me, if I cannot even endeavour to persuade him. I have myself told him that Miss Thorpe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/persuasion-is-not-at-command-but-pardon-me-if-i-cannot-even-endeavour/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-can-listen-no-longer-in-silence-i-must-speak-to-you-by-such-means-2/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“She ventured to hope he did not always read only poetry; and to say, that she thought it was the misfortune of poetry, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/she-ventured-to-hope-he-did-not-always-read-only-poetry-and-to-say/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/one-does-not-love-a-place-the-less-for-having-suffered-in-it-unless/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“Anne could do no more; but her heart prophesied some mischance to damp the perfection of her felicity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/anne-could-do-no-more-but-her-heart-prophesied-some-mischance-to-damp/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“Perhaps, he would now agree that you should sometimes let people persude you not to do things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/perhaps-he-would-now-agree-that-you-should-sometimes-let-people/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/dare-not-say-that-man-forgets-sooner-than-woman-that-his-love-has-an/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“A weak spirit which is always open to persuasion, first one way and then the other, can never be relied upon.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/a-weak-spirit-which-is-always-open-to-persuasion-first-one-way-and/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“nor could she help fearing, on more serious reflection, that, like many other great moralists and preachers, she had been eloquent on a point…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/nor-could-she-help-fearing-on-more-serious-reflection-that-like-many/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) ## More by Jane Austen > [Let us have the luxury of silence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/let-us-have-the-luxury-of-silence/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“How earnestly did she then wish that her former opinions had been more reasonable, more moderate!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/how-earnestly-did-she-then-wish-that-her-former-opinions-had-been/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“it is very well worth-while to be tormented for two or three years of one's life, for the sake of being able to read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/it-is-very-well-worth-while-to-be-tormented-for-two-or-three-years-of/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [ “Everybody is taken in at some period or another. \[...\] In marriage especially. \[...\] There is not one in a hundred of either sex,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/everybody-is-taken-in-at-some-period-or-another-in-marriage/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [She knew that what Marianne and her mother conjectured one moment, they believed the next: that with them, to wish was to hope, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/she-knew-that-what-marianne-and-her-mother-conjectured-one-moment/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“…for I look upon the Frasers to be about as unhappy as most other married people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/for-i-look-upon-the-frasers-to-be-about-as-unhappy-as-most-other/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“It raises my spleen more than any thing, to have the pretence of being asked, of being given a choice, and at the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/it-raises-my-spleen-more-than-any-thing-to-have-the-pretence-of-being/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [her spirits wanted the solitude and silence which only numbers could give.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/her-spirits-wanted-the-solitude-and-silence-which-only-numbers-could/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“But in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/but-in-such-cases-as-these-a-good-memory-is-unpardonable/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“...the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/the-pleasantness-of-an-employment-does-not-always-evince-its-propriety/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [Such squeamish youths as cannot bear to be connected with a little absurdity are not worth a regret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/such-squeamish-youths-as-cannot-bear-to-be-connected-with-a-little/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“I must tell you what you will not ask, though I may wish it unsaid the next moment”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/i-must-tell-you-what-you-will-not-ask-though-i-may-wish-it-unsaid-the/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“Lady Catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer; and Elizabeth suspected herself to be the first creature who had ever dared…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/lady-catherine-seemed-quite-astonished-at-not-receiving-a-direct/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“He had suffered, and he had learnt to think, two advantages that he had never known before…”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/he-had-suffered-and-he-had-learnt-to-think-two-advantages-that-he-had/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) > [“Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Eliot's character; vanity of person and of situation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/vanity-was-the-beginning-and-the-end-of-sir-walter-eliot-s-character/) [Jane Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) [Explore all 2,013 Jane Austen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/) ## More Persuasion quotes > [People forget that there is a big difference between coercion and persuasion. The idea that evangelism is coercive is nonsense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-dever/people-forget-that-there-is-a-big-difference-between-coercion-and/) [Mark Dever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-dever/) > [“I am a firm believer in the ‘Power of Persuasion.’ Insomuch as, whatever you believe are your limitations, will become your limitation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tonny-k-brown/i-am-a-firm-believer-in-the-power-of-persuasion-insomuch-as-whatever/) [Tonny K. Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tonny-k-brown/) > [Yet hold it more humane, more heav'nly, first, By winning words to conquer willing hearts, And make persuasion do the work of fear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/yet-hold-it-more-humane-more-heav-nly-first-by-winning-words-to/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [“My third maxim was to endeavour always to conquer myself rather than fortune, and change my desires rather than the order of the world,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ren-descartes/my-third-maxim-was-to-endeavour-always-to-conquer-myself-rather-than/) [René Descartes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ren-descartes/) > [The secret is to always let the other man have your way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-secret-is-to-always-let-the-other-man-have-your-way/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Every man has his price. This is not true. But for every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing. To win…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-man-has-his-price-this-is-not-true-but-for-every-man-there/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [ \[T\]here are, at bottom, basically two ways to order social affairs, Coercively, through the mechanisms of the state - what we can call political… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-crane/t-here-are-at-bottom-basically-two-ways-to-order-social-affairs/) [Ed Crane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-crane/) > [“Therapy requires a collaborative working relationship in which both partners act on the basis of their implicit confidence in the value and efficacy of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-lewis-herman/therapy-requires-a-collaborative-working-relationship-in-which-both/) [Judith Lewis Herman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-lewis-herman/) > [Our Constitution recognises no other power than that of persuasion, for enforcing religious observances.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-mentor-johnson/our-constitution-recognises-no-other-power-than-that-of-persuasion/) [Richard Mentor Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-mentor-johnson/) > [Whether it's a blessing or a curse, I have always played someone like 10 years younger. When I was 23 or 24, I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elisabeth-harnois/whether-it-s-a-blessing-or-a-curse-i-have-always-played-someone-like/) [Elisabeth Harnois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elisabeth-harnois/) > [Social and cultural change, however desirable, should not be effected by the engines of national power. Let us, through persuasion and education, seek to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barry-goldwater/social-and-cultural-change-however-desirable-should-not-be-effected/) [Barry Goldwater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barry-goldwater/) > [If Bill O'Reilly is calling you a far-left critic, in my book, no matter what your political persuasion is, that's probably - that probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-hastings/if-bill-o-reilly-is-calling-you-a-far-left-critic-in-my-book-no/) [Michael Hastings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-hastings/) > [I have with me two gods, Persuasion and Compulsion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/themistocles/i-have-with-me-two-gods-persuasion-and-compulsion/) [Themistocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/themistocles/) > [The intolerant man will not rely on persuasion, or on the worth of the idea. He would deny to others the very freedom of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kennedy/the-intolerant-man-will-not-rely-on-persuasion-or-on-the-worth-of-the/) [Robert Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kennedy/) > [According to the teaching of our Lord, what is wrong with the world is precisely that it does not believe in God. Yet it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-baillie/according-to-the-teaching-of-our-lord-what-is-wrong-with-the-world-is/) [John Baillie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-baillie/) [Browse all 509 Persuasion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persuasion/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of safety, not of risk”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jane Austen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion-once-remember-that-it-was-to-2/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Persuasion" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion-once-remember-that-it-was-to-2/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/jane-austen-39_persuasion_if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion_713509.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/jane-austen-39_persuasion_if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion_713509.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d79/jane-austen-39_persuasion_if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion_713509.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If I was wrong in yielding to persuasion once, remember that it was to persuasion exerted on the side of…” — Jane Austen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jane Austen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-austen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“If I was wrong in yielding...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion-once-remember-that-it-was-to-2/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-austen/if-i-was-wrong-in-yielding-to-persuasion-once-remember-that-it-was-to-2/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```