One of the things I learned, the easiest of lessons, was that the better you do your job, often going against conventional mores, the less popular you are likely to be.
Interpretation
Doing your job well may make you unpopular if it goes against the norm.
This quote by David Halberstam reflects the idea that excellence in one's work can sometimes lead to unpopularity, especially if it challenges accepted norms or practices. It emphasizes the notion that the pursuit of quality and integrity may place an individual at odds with the majority, who may prefer to adhere to conventional ways of doing things rather than risk discomfort or conflict by seeking improvement or change.
In practice
This quote could be used in a workshop on workplace ethics and integrity.
Fear was the terrible secret of the battlefield and could afflict the brave as well as the timid. Worse it was contagious, and could destroy a unit before a battle even began. Because of that, commanders were first and foremost in the fear suppression business.
If youre a reporter, the easiest thing in the world is to get a story. The hardest thing is to verify. The old sins were about getting something wrong, that was a cardinal sin. The new sin is to be boring.
Being a professional means doing your job on the days you don't want to do it
Memory is often less about the truth than about what we want it to be.
With the marketing pressures driving the book world today, it's much easier to get the author of a memoir on a television show than a serious novelist.
If there is anything that is important to America, it is that you are not a prisoner of the past.
At school any spontaneous act was likely to get me into trouble. I learned never to act on impulse, and that whatever came into my mind first should be rejected in favour of better ideas. I learned that my imagination Wasn’t ‘good’ enough. I learned that the first idea was unsatisfactory because it was (1) psychotic; (2) obscene; (3) unoriginal. The truth is that the best ideas are often psychotic, obscene and unoriginal.
I'll give you some symptoms of a sign that your faith is deteriorating-whenever you face all of your problems and you trust only your plans to get you out-it is a sign that your faith is deteriorating.
Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence.
Against logic there is no armor like ignorance.
We, of our time, have played our part in the perseverance, and we have pledged ourselves to the dead generations who have preserved intact for us this glorious heritage, that we, too, will strive to be faithful to the end, and pass on this tradition unblemished.
. . . your history is no less important to your survival than your ability to breathe. In the end, you can only determine whether to saturate your memories with pain or with perspective. Forgetting is not an option. I tell you the truth now: Pain was not God's plan for this life. It is a reality, but it is not a part of the plan.
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