Disputing "Eleanor Roosevelt's" "Great Minds" Quote
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." — Eleanor Roosevelt
From the start, I didn't think this quote sounded like something Eleanor Roosevelt would say. (I would think she was too caught up promoting human rights to get down to categorizing people in a demeaning way like that.) Apparently my hunch was right: The quote is almost surely misattributed. Of course, it's usually very difficult to prove that a particular person never said a certain string of words, but it's certain in this case that they at least did not originate with Eleanor. (This is why I have "Eleanor Roosevelt" in scare quotes in the title.)
While some people may find this quote appealing—and I may have even liked it in the past—now I don't think it's a positive saying at all. Let me explain.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."
For starters, this is insulting to anyone who discusses people—and most of us do. In fact, I seriously doubt there are many people who never discuss people, and those who do probably live lonely lives. Discussing ideas is awesome, and I encourage everyone to do that more often, but what do ideas matter except in the context of how they affect people?
I admit the quote makes some sense if you view it in terms of the news: That way, you could be criticizing the attention that people give celebrities, for example. A would-be journalist who's caught up on personalities and won't address the deeper ideas impacting society is worthy of rebuke.
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| some fake office with a negative wall (source) |
Please tell me what you think of this quote. Am I misinterpreting it? Am I giving it a hard time? Even if they're popular, I think some pithy quotes are worthy of a second thought, and perhaps a decision not to use them.
I've always interpreted the discussing people in terms of gossiping about people rather than discussing the achievements, advances or contributions of people.
ReplyDeleteThere's many more interesting things about people than mere gossip; thinking about how they tick, how they see the world; how to connect, inspire, motivate them; how to be kind, compassionate, caring, understanding. Only someone who doesn't have much interpersonal intelligence would dismiss people interested in other people.
ReplyDeleteThat's talking about ideas.
DeleteThis quote sounds good on the surface but it doesn't withstand scrutiny. A scientist studies ideas, a historian studies events, and a biographer studies people, but saying these individuals have great, average, and small minds respectively is ridiculous. All three professions are noble and can benefit society greatly. Maybe this quote is meant to be interpreted a particular way, but that precludes it from being a solid truth.
ReplyDeleteWell, to put it into perspective, it's a quote about other people. According to it's own logic it must originate from a small mind.
ReplyDeleteThe loop closes as soon as you realize that you've just outed yourself and then you will never use that quote again. In this sense, it's a rather genius quote.
I think as a wife of a politician and a very influential one, she may be speaking in practical terms, we attribute quotations as stand-alone statements, however they are usually picked out of larger pieces of speech or writing like interviews, public addresses or books. This quote if put into context may have a completely suitable perspective. Her partial context is about the general public in the 20th century. Alot of people do discuss other people, but those who only discuss people don't use their minds to discuss productive things and ideas. In productive terms discussing someone (celebrity, politician etc) without the intention of solving a problem is not pragmatic at all. Alot of people discuss events like marriages, parties, funerals, gatherings and such which have no pragmatism to it too. This isn't about historians or biographers, this is about the general public and how people should focus their minds on discussing ideas rather than mere events and other people. Look at examples in today's world, people with high competence and work ethic don't sit around watching tv, talking about other people, they work and they think about ideas. The terms "Great", "Small" and "Average" are regarding pragmatism in a practical (capitalist) world. It could be irony too, that the system considers people to be great not because they are great human beings, but how practical they are (How much money they make, how much they climb in our capitalist world).
ReplyDeleteThe point made by whomever made this insightful comment is to challenge us to think and talk ideas as opposed to small talk, the weather, events. Even worse, small minds just gossip about others.
ReplyDeleteIdeas. Small talk. Gossip. You decide.
Too much overthinking going on here. It was intended to reflect those who thrive on gossip being of small minds. And, they are.
ReplyDeleteIn modern terminology: chattering on about Chloe Kardashian vs what Elon Musk is creating...or what YOUR idea is that will revolutionize your industry.