I think that's one of the maybe under-discussed aspects of process - the difference between a good writing day and a bad one is the quality of the split-second decisions you made.
George SaundersRead
Success is like a mountain in front of you that keeps growing. If you're not careful, it will take up your whole life.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Success can be overwhelming and all-consuming if not approached with balance.
In this quote, George Saunders uses the metaphor of a growing mountain to illustrate how the pursuit of success can dominate one's life. If one becomes excessively focused on achieving success, it can overshadow other important aspects of life, leading to a lack of balance and fulfillment. It serves as a reminder to maintain perspective and prioritize what truly matters.
Themes
SuccessBalanceLifePrioritiesPerspective
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about career choices.
More from George Saunders
All quotes βI still believe that capitalism is too harsh and I believe that, even within that, there is a lot of satisfaction and beauty if you happen to be one of the lucky ones, although that doesn't eradicate the reality of the suffering. It's all true at once, kind of humming and sublime.
George SaundersRead
Down in the city are the nice houses and the so-so houses and the lovers making out in dark yards and the babies crying for their moms, and I wonder if, other than Jesus, has this ever happened before. Maybe it happens all the time. Maybe there's angry dead all over, hiding in rooms, covered with blankets, bossing around their scared, embarrassed relatives. Because how would we know?
George SaundersRead
What a powerful thing to know: That one's own desires are mappable onto strangers; that what one finds in oneself will most certainly be found in The Other.
George SaundersRead
When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world around you. What I want is to have the reader come out just 6 percent more awake to the world.
George SaundersRead
I don't think much new ever happens. Most of us spend our days the same way people spent their days in the year 1000: walking around smiling, trying to earn enough to eat, while neurotically doing these little self-proofs in our head about how much better we are than these other slobs, while simultaneously, in another part of our brain, secretly feeling woefully inadequate to these smarter, more beautiful people.
George SaundersRead
Similar quotes
Vision is easy. It's so easy to just point to the bleachers and say I'm going to hit one over there. What's hard is saying, OK, how do I do that? What are the specific programs, what are the commitments, what are the resources, what are the processes we need in play to go implement the vision, turn it into a working model that people follow every day in the enterprise. That's hard work.
Lou GerstnerRead
To play 18 years in Yankee Stadium is the best thing that could ever happen to a ballplayer.
Mickey MantleRead
Failure is... the highway to success.
Og MandinoRead
If you're going to play the bargaining game, you just need to make the other side mad. You want them to get a little annoyed. Then you know that you've come in with a good price.
Christopher VossRead
Existence is the privilege of effort, and when that privilege is met like a man, opportunities to succeed along the line of your aptitude will come faster than you can use them.
Orison Swett MardenRead
Work is life for me, it is the only point of life - and with it there is almost religious belief that service is everything.
Laurence OlivierRead