Long Island is shaped the way it is largely because of Robert Moses. Long Island is a perfect example of how political power shapes people's lives every day.
Robert CaroRead
I used to work very long hours. Then I started to realize that the stuff that I was writing in the late afternoons, I was generally throwing out. So I quit earlier than I used to.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Working longer hours doesn't always equate to higher quality output; sometimes it's more effective to work less and focus on quality.
Robert Caro's quote reflects a realization about the efficiency of work; it highlights that extended hours may lead to diminishing returns in productivity. By recognizing that much of his later writing was discarded, Caro decided to work fewer hours, focusing instead on producing better quality work in a more efficient time frame.
Themes
WorkProductivityEfficiencyQualityTime Management
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about work-life balance.
More from Robert Caro
All quotes →What would be the good of rushing? You want these books to last.
Robert CaroRead
I sometimes feel that if your book sells more than 20 years, then there's something in it that you can say, gee, I did something that endures, that's timeless
Robert CaroRead
If you really want to show power in its larger aspects, you need to show the effects on the powerless, for good or ill - the human cost of public works. That's what I try to do, show not only how power works but its effect on people.
Robert CaroRead
It's very easy to fool yourself that you're working, you know, when you're really not working very hard. I mean, I'm very lazy. So for me, I would always have an excuse, you know, to go - quit early, go to a museum, you know. So I do everything I can to make myself remember this is a job. I keep a schedule.
Robert CaroRead
I am trying to make clear through my writing something which I believe: that biography- history in general- can be literature in the deepest and highest sense of that term.
Robert CaroRead
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Littera scripta manet - 'The written word will remain'. That's true, but it won't be that much comfort to me.
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Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon; How much it can fill your room depends on its windows.
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