Hank
"Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is even shorter supply than genius." I can not catch it. It is form a book "Zero to one". The sentence is "Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is even shorter supply than genius." I can catch it "Courage is even shorter supply than genius". Does it mean it is not enough to success if you just have courage. You still need stronger skill and genius thinking to make things happen.
Nov 30, 2014 4:37 PM
Answers · 7
1
Hello Hank: I agree with Patrick's answer. We may well note that "success" is not the subject of the quotation. We may also note that it does not mean that Genius---Is---Needed. It simply means that few people demonstrate Courage. For example, here is a quote from one of my heroes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr on the subject of courage: ================================= "When I say to you; 'Don't even be afraid, you know what I really mean?' For I submit to you tonight, that no man is free, if he fears death; but the minute that you conquer the fear of death, at that moment, you're free. You must say somehow; 'I don't have much money. I don't have much education. I may not be able to read and write; but I have the capacity to die!' And I say to all, ...the man that will not die for something, is not fit to live." ----from a sermon by Pastor Martin Luther King, who succeeded Pastor Vernon Johns at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in the Televised movie, "THE VERNON JOHNS STORY" (available on DVD)
November 30, 2014
1
It may be easiest to rephrase the sentence so you understand it better. Here, the sentence is very eloquent and therefore, not designed to be easily understood. "Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is even shorter supply than genius." Could also be said: "Genius is rare, but courage is more rare." "Brilliant thinking" is used as a synonym (or another way of saying the same thing) for "Genius" So "Genius is rare, but courage is even shorter supply than brilliant thinking." also means the same thing. "is in even shorter supply than" is another way of saying "even more rare". "to be in short supply" implies that not only is it hard to find (rare) but that's also wanted and needed. This is only a sub-connotation though and not the central thought. The central thought is "It's rare to find genius, but courage is even more rare". Hope this helps! Jason
November 30, 2014
Thanks Patrick and Bruce. Both of you have good answer that I can easy to understand.
November 30, 2014
By the way, your quotation comes from the business magazine, "Fortune" dated 9 Sepetmber 2014, from the article on Peter Thiel, who uttered the words.
November 30, 2014
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