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Irrational aphorisms

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SapereAude

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Suddenly I have an unusual for me amount of time on my hands. As such I've been spending more time on the internet.

I've become somewhat fascinated with the stupidities that people put out there as "wisdom".

I'm going to start a collection of them here, feel free to add.

I see this as "a list of collectivist sayings that would have my grampaw shaking his cane and howling about those gawddam commie kids"

Number one- from a self-help twitter account

Inspiration doesn't need motivation.

Can anyone find a rational interpretation of this statement?

When I think of inspiration without motivation all I see is a pothead on the couch wondering why someone hasn't funded his dreams.

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"Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." Thomas Edison

I don't mean a rational rebuttal.. I mean any way of looking at the actual quote in a way that makes sense.

Edison's quote is the exact opposite of the self help drivvel I posted above :thumbsup:

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I don't mean a rational rebuttal.. I mean any way of looking at the actual quote in a way that makes sense.

Edison's quote is the exact opposite of the self help drivvel I posted above :thumbsup:

You might be able to make the argument that if you are inspired by what you're doing, you won't need any otherkind of motivation. In the sense that, if you love your job you would do it for free and do not need a big pay check to get up each morning. I don't think that it's particularly right, but I can understand the sentiment.

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If you view motivation as something which has to be an input from without, then the aphorism makes sense. Try thinking like a manager who's always having to nudge (and/or kick) your subordinates to get them just to do their jobs, let alone excel. Then you bring in someone new for your staff, and they don't need motivating, they just have talent and a good work ethic. Would I use the term "inspiration", eh, maybe, probably not. I don't think it's a good aphorism, there's a bad ambiguity to it.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 7 months later...

"Shoot for the moon and at least you'll land among the stars." Egalitarianism, general pessimism. May as well say, "You won't ever get what you want." Otherwise, why not instead say something like, oh, "Try, try again."?

Edited by JASKN
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"Good guys finish last." That one bugs me.

I always thought that refered to a type of male who attempts to gain the admiration of women by being "nice" to them rather than having any of the virtues that women actually want. That is the context I see it usually used in.

I guess in general the idea is that if you have all the right qualities being nice is just a bonus, and if you don't being nice is pointless. I have basically learned in life that you can get away with a lot of stuff if you are productive, good looking, and have good hygene.

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I always thought that refered to a type of male who attempts to gain the admiration of women by being "nice" to them rather than having any of the virtues that women actually want. That is the context I see it usually used in.

I guess in general the idea is that if you have all the right qualities being nice is just a bonus, and if you don't being nice is pointless. I have basically learned in life that you can get away with a lot of stuff if you are productive, good looking, and have good hygene.

Well 'getting away' with something is always more complicated than people generally suppose. Anyways, the general connotation of the saying is that people who get ahead do it by screwing over others, and those who don't do so won't advance. There is the more sympathetic interpretation of the saying, which is that nice, shy guys who don't put themselves out there won't achieve success in relationships, career, etc. That's certainly true, but being nice/good and being assertive aren't mutually exclusive.

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