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Marking dynamos for repair $10,000.00-2 hours labor $10.00; knowing where to mark $9,990.00.
Charles Proteus Steinmetz
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The real value lies in knowledge and expertise, not just in the labor performed.

This quote by Charles Proteus Steinmetz underscores the importance of knowledge and experience over the mere physical effort involved in a task. It highlights that understanding how to approach a problem can have far greater value than the time spent on the actual labor, suggesting that expertise is a crucial component of success in any endeavor.

Themes

KnowledgeExpertiseValueWisdomEffort

In practice

Example use cases

In a business meeting discussing the importance of skilled labor.

More from Charles Proteus Steinmetz

Spiritual power is a force which history clearly teaches has been the greatest force in the development of men. Ye. we have been merely playing with it and never have really studied it as we have the physical forces. Some day people will learn that material things do not bring happiness, and are of little use in making people creative and powerful. Then the scientists of the world will turn their laboratories over to the study of spiritual forces which have hardly been scratched.
Charles Proteus SteinmetzRead
Indeed, the most important part of engineering work-and also of other scientific work-is the determination of the method of attacking the problem, whatever it may be, whether an experimental investigation, or a theoretical calculation. ... It is by the choice of a suitable method of attack, that intricate problems are reduced to simple phenomena, and then easily solved.
Charles Proteus SteinmetzRead
No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.
Charles Proteus SteinmetzRead

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