Great quotes
Great truths

I'm a sucker for big-picture thinking, and considering how often I have used the quotes below, I figured it was time to write 'em down. Consider it either a glimpse into my thinking or an attempt to spread some wisdom.

"Don't use the war to sell the bonds. Use the bonds to sell the war." Henry Morgenthau.
This bit of genius from Morgenthau, FDR's Secretary of the Treasury during World War II, sums up about all you need to know about PR and marketing -- or their conjoined twin, political consulting. It goes to selling hope versus selling fear, to motivating by aspiration as opposed to prompting by guilt, to seeing beyond the immediate objective to the long-range goal. The war bond drives of WW II, helped by A-list Hollywood stars, financed the war, all right -- but also proved invaluable in boosting morale and forming public opinion.

"If you want to see your girlfriend in her underwear, don't give her lingerie, give her jewelry." Unknown.
A more real-life example to the item above. Again, the idea is to think ahead and not be tied to the literal: your motivations may not be the motivating factor in others.

"Don't refute, reframe." D.C. Harrison.
The best piece of political consulting advice I ever heard, and I heard it 20 years before it became a Democratic insight thanks to linguist George Lefkow. I never wrote about this for years because it wasn't going to give away my No. 1 PR secret. The idea is simple enough -- if you're refuting a charge, you're defensive, so reframe the entire conversation. An example: it's not about not filing a certain form, it's about that form being excessive government bureaucracy.

"A people hire A people. B people hire C people." Rich Galen.
Galen, a big-time political operative inside the Beltway, encapsulates a great truth in this quote. It rings especially true with me because most of my colleagues would consider me an A person and I've run into a lot of B people in job interviews. It brings to mind a line I heard from a Comedy Central comedian the other night: "I wish I had a drug problem. It would explain why I don't own anything."

"It is better to be average in a great business than great in a so-so business." Ben Stein.
The world's most average mortgage banker will make more money than the most exceptional playwright. This is something I wish I had considered before setting out on a career dominated by low-paying writing pursuits.

"Be careful what you pretend to be, for that's what you'll become."
Originally spotted in Kurt Vonnegut's "Mother Night," I later found similar sentiments in both Shakespeare and the Bible. It goes to the idea of asserted reality, which would have made the list here if I could have remembered the seminal quote. It's the kind of quote that marries the dreamy aspects of Goethe (dream it and you'll be it) with a vague sense of bad karma. I spent years portraying myself as the starving artist and the starving part came true.

"Capital will flow to the cheapest labor." Karl Marx.
At the time Marx wrote this, he was thinking of steam engines and how factories out in the countryside (near their source of water power) could move into cities and take advantage of impoverished, starving citizens. I suspect the old philosopher / economist would be flabbergasted as to how his thinking applies in today's wired global marketplace. If I ever do a similar list of all-time influential books, Marx won't make the list, but here's one that will: Daniel Bell's "The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism."

"There are two types of problems in the world. Those you can solve with a check and those you can't." G.L. Marshall
My way of keeping life in perspective and my blood pressure down. The idea is to know when to shrug and when to cry.

"If I think about it long enough, the truth will come." Confederate Gen. James Longstreet as channeled by Michael Shaara in "Killer Angels."
As someone who thinks for a hobby (thanks to William Golding for that line), I believe the vision thing isn't a blessing, but a curse, because it adds to the frustration of seeing what's going on, and how it's going to play out, when you're not necessarily in the position to alter the outcome. There's a corollary to this quote, and it's this: "There are three valid answers to a yes-or-no question -- yes, no and no decision at this time." Many bad decisions aren't inherently bad; they are decisions made at a bad time.

"It's the difference between what's said and what's heard." The ex-wife the psychobabblist.
The quote captures a distinction lost on a lot of people. It also gives me an excuse to sum up 60-some percent of all psychiatry in a single phrase. When you see anger, get out the hurt; when you see hurt, mobilize the anger. You can sum up dermatology in a single phrase, too: if it's wet, make it dry. If it's dry, make it wet. If only life were so simple.

"It's not what you get into. It's what you have to get out of." G.L. Marshall
I hear all kinds of rationalizations for affairs and I pretty much reject them all. It's simple folks. Affairs end badly. Somebody gets hurt. Don't do it. Not worth it. Nuff said.

"There's no difference between second and last." Vince Lombardi.
"There's no substitute for victory." Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
Two quotes, same vein. I'm not motivated to win at all costs, not motivated to excel at the expense of others, and in fact, my definitions of success are fuzzy and situation-dependent. But what's clear, and what's been clear since childhood, is that I hate failure. People are motivated in both positive and negative ways.

"I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member." Groucho Marx.
As good a way to end this as any. If you want to tell the truth, make it funny. It's much more palatable that way.

Return to the Marshall Occasional Home Page.