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MoreOn comments on Doublethink (Choosing to be Biased) - Less Wrong
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Sometimes I come up with an awesome idea for my research, something that seems like it will totally blow open the problem I've been working on for weeks/months/years. After having such amazing moments of insight I usually take a couple of days off because the potential that the idea is right just feels so good, and because, well, in research it usually turns out that most amazing insights don't solve that problem you've been working on for years.
I know what you mean. I get that all the time, with all of the unsolved math problems I occasionally look at. And since my name isn't on wikipedia yet, I haven't solved any of them.
Although, in this case I would argue that we're better off knowing we're wrong, than being happy for the wrong reasons. The happiness at an end-of-semester party comes from a different source (socializing, having fun, etc), which are, dare I say, the "right" reasons. Destroying this happiness by the truth will not lead to the discovery of more truth, as it were (the grade is already there). Destroying the happiness over a mistake at least lets you find truth in acknowledging such mistake.
But then again, if I have a "brilliant" idea, I start working on it immediately, without giving myself much of a chance to bask in its brilliance.