It is in our faults and failings, not in our virtues, that we touch each other, and find sympathy. It is in our follies that we are one.
Jerome K. JeromeRead
Some people are under the impression that all that is required to make a good fisherman is the ability to tell lies easily and without blushing; but this is a mistake. Mere bald fabrication is useless; the veriest tyro can manage that. It is in the circumstantial detail, the embellishing touches of probability, the general air of scrupulous - almost of pedantic - veracity, that the experienced angler is seen.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being a good fisherman requires more than just telling tall tales; it requires skill, detail, and a deep understanding of the craft.
This quote by Jerome K. Jerome emphasizes that true expertise in fishing—or any skill—lies not in the ability to fabricate stories but in the nuanced understanding and attention to detail that one develops through experience. It suggests that superficial claims are not enough to mask the lack of genuine knowledge that comes from practice and observation.
Themes
FishingSkillExperienceCraftTruthStorytelling
In practice
Example use cases
During a fishing workshop, a mentor might quote this to emphasize the importance of technique and detail over mere tales of big catches.
More from Jerome K. Jerome
All quotes →Life is a thing to be lived, not spent; to be faced, not ordered. Life is not a game of chess, the victory to the most knowing; it is a game of cards, one's hand by skill to be made the best of.
Jerome K. JeromeRead
It is a curious fact, but nobody ever is sea-sick - on land. At sea, you come across plenty of people very bad indeed, whole boat-loads of them; but I never met a man yet, on land, who had ever known at all what it was to be sea-sick. Where the thousands upon thousands of bad sailors that swarm in every ship hide themselves when they are on land is a mystery.
Jerome K. JeromeRead
There may be a better land where bicycle saddles are made of rainbow, stuffed with cloud; in this world the simplest thing is to get used to something hard.
Jerome K. JeromeRead
The world must be rather a rough place for clever people. Ordinary folk dislike them, and as for themselves, they hate each other most cordially.
Jerome K. JeromeRead
A cat's got her own opinion of human beings. She don't say much, but you can tell enough to make you anxious not to hear the whole of it.
Jerome K. JeromeRead
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