Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
John SteinbeckRead
In business and in politics a man must carve and maul his way through men to get to be King of the Mountain. Once there, he can be great and kind-but he must get there first.
Interpretation
Success often requires navigating challenges and competing against others, but true greatness comes from how one acts after achieving it.
John Steinbeck's quote suggests that in both business and politics, achieving a position of power often demands a ruthless approach where one may have to overcome obstacles and rivals. Once a person reaches the top, they have the opportunity to exhibit greatness and kindness, highlighting that the journey to success may be characterized by conflict, but the true test of character comes in how one leads after attaining power.
In practice
This quote could be used to motivate a team before a competitive business pitch.
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
At one point, as Samuel urges Adam to raise his boys well regardless of the blood that might be in them, Adam tells him, "You can't make a race horse of a pig." Samuel replies, "No, but you can make a very fast pig.
And when that crop grew, and was harvested, no man had crumbled a hot clod in his fingers and let the earth sift past his fingertips. No man had touched the seed, or lusted for the growth. Men ate what they had not raised, had no connection with the bread. The land bore under iron, and under iron gradually died; for it was not loved or hated, it had no prayers or curses.
The comfortable people in tight houses felt pity at first, and then distaste, and finally hatred for the migrant people.
People do not want advice - they want corroboration.
It is one of the triumphs of the human that he can know a thing and still not believe it.
Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you're exactly the same.
It's all about competitiveness: are you making the products that people really do want and value, and are you making it more efficiently and using less resources and less time than the competition?
The richest people in the world build networks; everyone else is trained to look for work.
The most talented do not always end up as celebrities, and those with less talent often do. Upsets are written into our history and occur around us every day.
The game has a cleanness. If you do a good job, the numbers say so. You don't have to ask anyone or play politics. You don't have to wait for the reviews.
The business of feeding people is the most amazing business in the world.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.