If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that even a small amount of competence can stand out in a context where most lack it.
Kurt Vonnegut's quote highlights the idea that even a mediocre effort can be more valuable than perfection in a situation where others are completely lacking. The phrase 'one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind' implies that having just a little bit of insight or skill can make one remarkably prominent and significant among those who are entirely oblivious or incompetent.
In practice
During a leadership seminar, a speaker might use this quote to illustrate how valuable unique skills are in a competitive environment.
But by accident, not by cunning calculation, books, because of their weight and texture, and because of their sweetly token resistance to manipulation, involve our hands and eyes, and then our minds and souls, in a spiritual adventure I would be very sorry for my grandchildren not to know about.
I was not an anthropology student prior to the war. I took it up as part of a personal readjustment following some bewildering experiences as an infantryman and later as a prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany. The science of the Study of Man has been extremely satisfactory from that personal standpoint.
How subservient to Jesus, or to a humane God Almighty, were the leaders of this country back in the 1840's, when Marx said such a supposedly evil thing about religion? They had made it perfectly legal to own human slaves, and weren't going to led women vote or hold public office, God forbid, for another eighty year.
All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let's get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States - and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!
Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies - "God damn it, you've got to be kind."
If what Billy Pilgrim learned from the Tralfamadorians is true, that we will all live forever, no matter how dead we may sometimes seem to be, I am not overjoyed. Still--if I am going to spend eternity visiting this moment and that, I'm grateful that so many of those moments are nice.
Kind words toward those you daily meet, Kind words and actions right, Will make this life of ours most sweet, Turn darkness into night.
To avoid discovery I stay on the run. To discover things for myself, I stay on the run.
I have made it a rule of my life to trust a man long after other people gave him up, but I don't see how I can ever trust any human being again.
As solid rock remains unmoved by the wind, so the wise remain unmoved by blame and praise.
Life is short. Time is fleeting. Realize the Self. Purity of the heart is the gateway to God. Aspire. Renounce. Meditate. Be good; do good. Be kind; be compassionate. Inquire, know Thyself.
When you are completely free from boundaries, you don't have to have a huge number of material things. You already own something far more precious. You own yourself.
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