“We don’t know what we want, but we are ready to bite somebody to get it.” — Will Rogers. How applicable is this to the everyday guy?

Only the miniority of humans are warped enough to adopt this philosophy!

No, I think people cherish what they think is good. It may be bad, but they are sincere in their misjudgment and/or ignorance.

I really have to start reading some Will Rogers. And I will bite anyone who says otherwise.

Or they can bite me, one.

The vast majority of people are better than that. Or at least they try to be.

@WasCy Here you are
Knock yourself out

I don’t get what the subject quote has to do with people cherishing the bad or the good ?
I like the quote.

And I’ll say I think people cherish the good, and remember the pain of the bad.
Both are memorable and motivate future behavior.

The quote means people will not remember the kindness done to them but will always hold a grudge against the bad done to them. To the point of cherishing it. You’re right, that was my two pence in about “cherish”.

My apology @atlantis. I don’t see how the quote equates to either description posted. It sounds more like it is about people willing to be manipulative in order to get something that they think that they want.

I think the quote means something about very strong hunger whose source is not clear.
Like you know there’s something wrong but what to change isn’t really clear.

@Pied_Pfeffer none required… I was merely adding in a philosophical premise as a description. How it might play out in the head and acting out.

I don’t think that this is true in general.

He was commenting specifically on American culture when he wrote this. I understand him to be talking about looking at life as a “zero sum” game, thinking that we’re in competition for the good things in life, so that one gains only at the expense of others.

That kind of thinking comes from our acquisitive spirit: happiness comes from getting this or that. We don’t know what “this or that” may be (because nothing acquired really satisfies for long), but we know we don’t want others to get it instead of us. This is in contrast to a culture of everyone seeking the common good.

@thorninmud Thank you. That makes much more sense to me than mine.
@atlantis I am still thinking about your philosophical question. It’s a good mental exercise.

The man was a genius, not just a “comic genius”. Thank you, @atlantis. I’m thinking pretty highly of you, too, now.

“How applicable is this to the everyday guy?”

to the everyday guy it’s hardly applicable.. To the corporate climber it usually fits like a glove, so this sage advice is (and had been) meant for business and financial manipulators and not your average joe. Only the corporate mogul leans toward the darker side, for that’s the only area that can take the unwitting off balance.

@WasCy Glad you do.