Staying in the Middle of the Road

I remember a quote I learned in high school which I think was by Alexander Pope, "Be not the first by which the new is tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside." I saw it as an admonition to play it safe and not stick your neck out. I think I remember it because it was never my way. I was more "Ready, fire, aim." I have sometimes wondered what the would would have been like if no one had ever taken any chances. I thought of the wisdom in the fifteenth century about the world being flat, with concern about falling off the edge if one sailed too far. It seems dumb now, but only from the perspective of what we have learned in the mean time. I think life and personal growth are a matter of what risks we are willing to take. How many famous inventors went ahead with experiments which everyone else was convinced would not work?