QuoteProject
Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock.
Frank Herbert
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Perfection often hides flaws; real life is about embracing imperfections.

This quote suggests that what may appear as a flawless operation or situation is likely masking errors or difficulties. In reality, challenges and mistakes are part of life, and they contribute to the authenticity and character of our experiences. Acknowledging imperfections allows for growth, learning, and authenticity, just as a boat that rocks can be seen as navigating through the complexities of the waters.

Themes

ImperfectionAuthenticityGrowthMistakesChallenges

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about leadership, one might say, 'Remember, show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes.'

More from Frank Herbert

My father once told me that respect for truth comes close to being the basis for all morality. 'Something cannot emerge from nothing,' he said. This is profound thinking if you understand how unstable 'the truth' can be.
Frank HerbertRead
If you need something to worship, then worship life - all life, every last crawling bit of it! We're all in this beauty together!
Frank HerbertRead
Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, "I am not the kind of person I want to be." It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.
Frank HerbertRead
To know a thing well, know it's limits; Only when pushed beyond it's tolerance will it's true nature be seen. -The Amtal Rule
Frank HerbertRead
Technology tends toward avoidance of risks by investors. Uncertainty is ruled out if possible. People generally prefer the predictable. Few recognize how destructive this can be, how it imposes severe limits on variability and thus makes whole populations fatally vulnerable to the shocking ways our universe can throw the dice.
Frank HerbertRead
It is impossible to live in the past, difficult to live in the present and a waste to live in the future.
Frank HerbertRead

Similar quotes

God has reserved to Himself the right to determine the end of life, because He alone knows the goal to which it is His will to lead it. It is for Him alone to justify a life or to cast it away.
Dietrich BonhoefferRead
The true exercise of freedom is - cannily and wisely and with grace - to move inside what space confines - and not seek to know what lies beyond and cannot be touched or tasted.
A. S. ByattRead
The justification of majority rule in politics is not to be found in its ethical superiority.
Walter LippmannRead
Any plan conceived in moderation must fail when the circumstances are set in extremes.
Klemens Von MetternichRead
The gospel cannot be truly preached without offense and tumult.
Martin LutherRead
They say you are not you except in terms of relation to other people. If there weren't any other people there wouldn't be any you because what you do, which is what you are, only has meaning in relation to other people.
Robert Penn WarrenRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.