Indeed I believe Richard Hamming addressed this in his talk "You and Your Research." In it he says, "The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn,

Indeed I believe Richard Hamming addressed this in his talk "You and Your Research." In it he says, "The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity - it is very much like compound interest." I think the part about opportunity is probably the most applicable outside of research. If you go to a good school or have done a good job at work, then you're more likely to get promoted or given more responsibilities. And with more responsibility, you can show again that you can do a good job and thus get further responsibilities.