If they are too big to fail, make them smaller.
George P. ShultzRead
Nothing ever gets settled in this town. a seething debating society in which the debate never stops, in which people never give up, including me. And so that's the atmosphere in which you administer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the ongoing nature of debate and discussion in society, highlighting a persistent engagement with issues.
George P. Shultz emphasizes that in his town, discussions and debates are a constant presence, suggesting that resolution is rare and the dialogue is ongoing. This atmosphere of relentless questioning and engagement plays a vital role in how one governs or leads, indicating that active participation in discussion is crucial for understanding and managing societal dynamics.
Themes
DebateDiscussionSocietyEngagementLeadership
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote during a town hall meeting to emphasize the importance of community dialogue.
More from George P. Shultz
All quotes →He who walks in the middle of the roads gets hit from both sides.
George P. ShultzRead
The minute you start talking about what you're going to do if you lose, you have lost.
George P. ShultzRead
What we want is scientists who don't become part of the policy discussion: All they do is produce science. If someone becomes an advocate, then I won't pay as much attention to their science.
George P. ShultzRead
I want my grandchildren to be proud of me. That's the main thing.
George P. ShultzRead
Increasingly, the state system has been eroding. Terrorists have exploited this weakness by burrowing into the state system in order to attack it.
George P. ShultzRead
Similar quotes
Birth, life, and death― each took place on the hidden side of a leaf.
Toni MorrisonRead
I have here only made a nosegay of culled flowers, and have brought nothing of my own but the thread that tied them together.
Michel De MontaigneRead
The motive power of democracy is love
Henri BergsonRead
[I]t is truth alone-scientific, established, proved, and rational truth-which is capable of satisfying nowadays the awakened minds of all classes. We may still say perhaps, 'faith governs the world,'-but the faith of the present is no longer in revelation or in the priest-it is in reason and in science.
Henri Frederic AmielRead
God expects but one thing of you, and that is that you should come out of yourself in so far as you are a created being made and let God be God in you.
Meister EckhartRead
The question is not what anybody deserves. The question is who is to take on the God-like role of deciding what everybody else deserves. You can talk about 'social justice' all you want. But what death taxes boil down to is letting politicians take money from widows and orphans to pay for goodies that they will hand out to others, in order to buy votes to get re-elected. That is not social justice or any other kind of justice.
Thomas SowellRead