3 ms·

I think that her words are just on the right side of the line. It would be tough to make it more florid without sounding pretentious, but it seems fine at the m

I think that her words are just on the right side of the line. It would be tough to make it more florid without sounding pretentious, but it seems fine at the moment. Here's an example of the kind of uncontrollable logorrhoea that she's talking about: "Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account." That's from the George Orwell essay "Politics and the English Language" (I'm sure you're familiar with it - snarf) and it's a rewording of the following Bible verse "I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

alan-crowe 14y ago
I've never been happy with that Bible verse. To my mind, winning the race defines swiftness and winning the battle defines strength. The verse starts with two paradoxical examples, then shifts gears into three whines about unrecognised merit (which don't strike me as matters of chance). What is it actually trying to say? I write the point about swiftness and strength thus The race is to the swift and the battle to the strong but the odds are never so short as the bookmaker offers and when the sea take the unsinkable ship with no lifeboats everybody drowns.
- dkokelley 14y ago
  If you take that verse in context (Ecclesiastes 9), you'll see that Solomon is lamenting the fact that "time and chance" ultimately negate any individual merit (strength and swiftness) in the long run (since in the end we all die). The swiftest runner could trip or pull a muscle, and in the chaos of battle anything could happen. Take David Vs. Goliath. Solomon's own father defeated the stronger opponent. Other circumstances of chance can change the tides of war, too. It's interesting to note that after Solomon became wise, he began to fall into something of an existential angst. I think that shows in this passage.
- vacri 14y ago
  Winning the battle defines the victor, not the strong.
- dwd 14y ago
  Gladwell's Outliers is a good read on how time (timing) and chance (opportunity) have far more effect on success than innate ability. He may even have had that passage in mind when he wrote: "The biggest misconception about success is that we do it solely on our smarts, ambition, hustle and hard work".

alan-crowe 14y ago

I've never been happy with that Bible verse. To my mind, winning the race defines swiftness and winning the battle defines strength. The verse starts with two paradoxical examples, then shifts gears into three whines about unrecognised merit (which don't strike me as matters of chance). What is it actually trying to say? I write the point about swiftness and strength thus The race is to the swift and the battle to the strong but the odds are never so short as the bookmaker offers and when the sea take the unsinkable ship with no lifeboats everybody drowns.

dkokelley 14y ago
If you take that verse in context (Ecclesiastes 9), you'll see that Solomon is lamenting the fact that "time and chance" ultimately negate any individual merit (strength and swiftness) in the long run (since in the end we all die). The swiftest runner could trip or pull a muscle, and in the chaos of battle anything could happen. Take David Vs. Goliath. Solomon's own father defeated the stronger opponent. Other circumstances of chance can change the tides of war, too. It's interesting to note that after Solomon became wise, he began to fall into something of an existential angst. I think that shows in this passage.
vacri 14y ago
Winning the battle defines the victor, not the strong.
dwd 14y ago
Gladwell's Outliers is a good read on how time (timing) and chance (opportunity) have far more effect on success than innate ability. He may even have had that passage in mind when he wrote: "The biggest misconception about success is that we do it solely on our smarts, ambition, hustle and hard work".