You need courage to be creative. You need the courage to see things differently, courage to go against the crowd, courage to take a different approach, courage to stand alone, if you have to, courage to choose activity over inactivity.
Learn all you can, don't be lazy. Nothing's worse than being stupid. Being broke is bad, but being stupid is what's really bad. And what's really really bad is being broke and stupid. Nothing's much worse than that. Unless you're sick. Sick, broke and stupid, that’s about as far as you can fall unless you're ugly. Surely that would be the ultimate; ugly, sick, broke and stupid.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Continuous learning is essential; ignorance is far worse than financial struggles.
In this quote, Jim Rohn emphasizes the critical importance of education and personal growth, suggesting that while financial poverty is challenging, ignorance and a lack of knowledge can lead to much worse outcomes. Rohn humorously highlights that being broke may be a temporary setback, but being 'stupid'—or uneducated—prevents one from improving their circumstances, and in a worst-case scenario, combines with other misfortunes like disease or physical unattractiveness, leading to a profound lack of quality in life.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech for students encouraging them to prioritize their education.
More from Jim Rohn
All quotes →It isn’t what the book costs. It’s what it will cost you if you don’t read it.
Don't wish for less problems; wish for more skills.
The major value of reaching goals is not to acquire it, but it's the person you become while you're working to acquire it.
Faith is the ability to see things that don't yet exist. Faith, though, can turn difficulty into reality, positive reality.
Leaders must understand that some people will inevitably sell out to the evil side. Don't waste your time wondering why; spend your time discovering who.
Similar quotes
He that loves to be flattered is worthy o' the flatterer.
When the mind is turbulent, uncontrolled and restless, it is like a pond of water that is filled with mud. Therefore when we look within ourselves, all we perceive is the mud of our material conceptions of life. But when the mind is still through discipline, and through yoga, it is like a pond that has no waves and no turbulence. Then we can perceive through that crystal clear water the eternal nature of our soul.
My Brain is the key that sets me free.
Never let your zeal outrun your charity. The former is but human, the latter is divine.
A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a Lacedaemonian, "I do not believe you can do as much." "True," said he, "but every goose can."
Only when you lift a burden, God will lift your burden. Divine paradox this! The man who staggers and falls because his burden is too great can lighten that burden by taking on the weight of another's burden. You get by giving, but your part of giving must be given first.