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An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.

— John W. Gardner

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More quotes by John W. Gardner

History never looks like history when you are living through it. It always looks confusing and messy, and it always feels uncomfortable.

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.

Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.

The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.

Excellence: Can We Be Equal and Excellent Too? (1961)

We have to face the fact that most men and women out there are more stale than they know, more bored than they care to admit.

Self Renewal (1964)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John W. Gardner (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.