Musical virtuoso Miles Davis assembled some of history’s most venerable jazz ensembles. Unbeknownst to audiences, he could also mentor his fellow musicians midway through a world-famous trumpet solo. Pianist Herbie Hancock — a member of Davis’ Second Great Quintet — fondly recalled one such instance. During a 1960s concert in Stuttgart, Germany, Hancock played what he judged as a very pronounced wrong chord. Covering his ears, he feared he had “reduced that great night to rubble.” An innate improviser, Davis responded with a series of notes that made Hancock’s chord sound intentional. “He did what any jazz musician should always try to do, and that is to make anything that happens into something of value,” Hancock said. It reminds us that so-called missteps are often just what we need to blaze a new trail.

Eleanor Roosevelt remains the longest-serving first lady in United States history, thanks to her husband Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unprecedented four terms. In her time, she was one of the most widely admired and powerful women in the world — and not just because she was married to the president. She redefined the role of first lady through her public appearances and fervent advocacy for civil rights and equality for women. After FDR’s death in 1945, she became the U.S. delegate to the U.N. General Assembly, taking a principal role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later, in 1951, when the U.S. was mired in the Korean War, the Cold War, and McCarthyism, she delivered an impassioned speech during a Voice of America radio broadcast that included this quote, reflecting her tireless and unfaltering commitment to global stability.