Pithy Quotes that Actually Suck

Maddie shared an interesting opinion on Twitter the other day:

It's true there might be a bit too many people putting up pithy quotes on Twitter. It can be irritating. But as I think about it, SOME of the quotes on Twitter are inspiring to me. So what's the difference? I think it depends on the quote. I am growing weary of quotes that sound pithy but in fact contain very little value. Consider this list I stumbled across today (things the author learned from his or her father):

1.  Failure is what happens when you quit before you succeed
2.  Your reputation is everything
3.  People get what they deserve--you don't need to get revenge yourself
4.  It's better to be lucky than smart (and don't confuse the two!)
5.  Family is the most important thing
6.  Drinks should be cold, food should be hot
7.  Focus on the big idea, but sometimes, be ready to get into the details!
8.  Treat everyone with respect
9.  Tell the truth, always, especially in business
10. Approach everything with beginner's mind

These annoy me. Not because they are on Twitter (in fact, they're not the traditional quotes from someone famous that you frequently see on Twitter), but they annoy me because they sound sort of cool, but don't really mean anything. Look at them one at a time.

1.  Failure is what happens when you quit before you succeed
Um, nope. Failure is what happens when things don't work out. Not everything works out, nor should we expect that. Quitting is not always a bad idea. But hey, if you want to stick your finger in that light socket another dozen times, go ahead!

2.  Your reputation is everything
Sure, reputation is important, but it's not everything. Nothing is everything. And if you over-focus on reputation, you'll likely start screwing up in areas like BEHAVIOR, which is where your reputation comes from to begin with.

3.  People get what they deserve--you don't need to get revenge yourself
No, they don't. Some people do crappy things and never pay for it. And even if they do, why do you care? Why does that matter? The notion that you don't have to get revenge because the universe will do it for you is just as misguided, in my opinion, as wanting revenge in the first place.

4.  It's better to be lucky than smart (and don't confuse the two!)
Actually it's better to be both. I answer this one with a quote from Louis Pasteur: Chance favors the prepared mind. Smart (and hard working) and luck are interconnected frequently.

5.  Family is the most important thing
Wait, I thought reputation was everything. See how confusing these absolutes can be?

6.  Drinks should be cold, food should be hot
What?

7.  Focus on the big idea, but sometimes, be ready to get into the details!
That's like "Breathe in, but sometimes, be ready to breathe out!"

8.  Treat everyone with respect
True. But everyone defines respect differently, so how does this help?

9.  Tell the truth, always, especially in business
Again with the absolutes. Truth is not so simple (and I like to write about that a lot).

10. Approach everything with beginner's mind
Okay, I actually like this one.

Bottom line: if you want to inspire, dig deeper than a quote that sounds cool. Repeat things that helped cause a real shift in your thinking or awareness. And when you have those shifts, write about it. People might start quoting you.

Comments

[Maddie Grant]

ROTFL!!

I must say, though, that there's something about quotes on Twitter that is inherently annoying, because Twitter's format forces otherwise wordier people (I include myself in that group) to say what they mean really concisely - which means a regular old tweet from someone can be VERY quotable. Repurposing "famous" quotes seems unnecessarily uninventive. :)

[Joe Rominiecki]

While I value short writing and the ability to capture the essence of a thought in just a few words (I'm a journalist by training - shorter is always better), when it comes to inspirational quotes, I tend to think that if it sounds like it would make a good keychain or bumper sticker, then it's probably not worth my time.

I think pithy quotes persist, however, because they can take on multiple meanings, depending on who's hearing them. Take something absurdly vague like "Always live life to the fullest": That can literally have six billion different meanings, one for every person on the planet.

[Wendee]

LOL!

I can never quite know how a quote will hit me, particularly on Twitter. I tend to enjoy quotes, pithy or not, in small bites, because it's a bit easier to digest than going through a whole Quotation book or site. But then again, I'm easily amused.

Should it matter that it's a quote attributed to someone famous? What about something really profound that @normalJoe Tweets? Hmmm.