I sometimes think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the idea that while we often celebrate those who succeed through early action, we should also consider the consequences of those actions on others.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's quote reflects the duality of luck and opportunity, suggesting that while the 'early bird' is often praised for its success, we must not overlook the plight of the 'early worm,' which symbolizes the risks and sacrifices that come with being first. It serves as a reminder to appreciate not just the advantages of proactive behavior, but also the potential downsides that others may face as a result of it.
In practice
This quote can be used in a leadership seminar to discuss the risks of taking the lead too quickly.
There has been one persistent theme through all Axis propaganda. This theme has been that Americans are admittedly rich, that Americans have considerable industrial power - but that Americans are soft and decadent, that they cannot and will not unite and work and fight. ... Let them tell that to the Marines!
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns.
Better the occasional faults of a government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
A world turned into a stereotype, a society converted into a regiment, a life translated into a routine, make it difficult for either art or artists to survive. Crush individuality in society and you crush art as well. Nourish the conditions of a free life and you nourish the arts, too.
This moment - the one you're experiencing right now - is the culmination of all the moments you have experienced in the past. This moment is as it is because the entire universe is as it is.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
What was taken by force, can only be restored by force.
Adam hid in the Garden of Eden. Moses tried to substitute his brother. Jonah jumped a boat and was swallowed by a whale...Man likes to run from God. It's a tradition.
I shall soon be six-and-twenty. Is there anything in the future that can possibly console us for not being always twenty-five?
The Kingdom of God is Within You.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.