“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” from Bert Lance and basketball to Burger King and Dilbert – and beyond…

THE PROVERBIAL AXIOM: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”        Bert Lance (1931-2013)        American banker and political advisor to President Jimmy Carter        This was already a proverbial saying in the Southern U.S. and maybe elsewhere before Lance adopted it as one of his own favorite quips. But Lance is widely credited with popularizing the saying and making it a national catchphrase. It’s a pithy way of expressing the belief that if some thing or policy is working adequately, it makes no sense — and may be unwise — to try to change or improve it. Lance was a top advisor to Jimmy Carter during the 1976 presidential campaign and served as Carter’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget from January 1977 until he was forced to resign in September 1977, due to allegations of past banking improprieties. During that time, Lance’s use of the “If it ain’t broke…” saying was quoted in many news stories and articles and is still cited in many books about politics and quotations.

JOHN WALL’S VIEW:           “I understand how quickly this game can be taken away from you. I try to play through all injuries, because I feel like, ‘If it ain’t broke, go play.’ For me, if you take all the money away, I’m still going to play the game the same way I do, because that's how much I love it.”         John Wall         Washington Wizards basketball team point guard         In an interview on May 27, 2020, commenting on his desire to get to playing basketball after being sidelined for nearly two years by surgeries for bone spurs and a tear in his Achilles tendon.

THE BURGER KING EXAMPLE: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Right? Well, Burger King didn’t get the memo. They’ve decided to flip their 40-year-old slogan. The days of ‘Have It Your Way’ will soon be a thing of the past. Their new slogan ‘Be Your Way’ kicks off this month. What the heck does that even mean?”        A May 23, 2014 article on NewsFixNow.com about the fast food chain’s puzzling new advertising slogan

ADVICE FOR REAL WORLD DILBERTS: “Remember: ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!" But if it is ‘broke’ or if the current operation is not optimum, make changes and additions for an improved operation that complies with ISO 9000 standards.”        Quoted in The American Society for Quality Control’s 49th Annual Quality Congress Proceedings (1995)

THE “MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON” VERSION: “If it is broke, you’ve got nothing to lose from trying.”        William Langewiesche        American journalist and book author         In his book Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson (2009)        Langewiesche cited this as the philosophy adopted by pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and first officer Jeffrey Skiles, who saved the lives of 155 passengers and crew members by successfully “landing” U.S. Airways flight 1549 on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009 after it was disabled in a collision with flying geese.

THE SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE VERSION: “There are still many, many people who aren’t willing to listen to mounting evidence about environmental dysfunction. Their mantra is, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ but mine is, ‘If it ain’t fixable, don’t break it.’”        David Wann        American author, filmmaker and advocate of “sustainable lifestyles”                      In his book Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle (2007)

ADVICE FOR HUSBANDS WILLING TO RISK THEIR WIFE’S WRATH: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it and if it is broke wiggle your way out of fixing it.”        Quoted in the book Never Hang Wallpaper With Your Wife (2006)         A guide to “decorating and renovating from a guy’s point of view,” written by William S. Peckham and Michael C. Hammar

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Related reading: books of quotations about politics and government…

“Whatever is worth doing...”

LORD CHESTERFIELD’S MAXIM: “Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.”        Lord Chesterfield (Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield; 1694-1773)        British statesman and diplomat        One of the many bits of fatherly advice Chesterfield imparted in letters to his illegitimate son, Philip Stanhope. This one is from a letter dated March 10, 1746.         Chesterfield’s use is generally thought to have led to the modern proverbial version: “If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well.”

THE ECDYSIAST’S COUNTERQUOTE: “If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing slowly — very slowly.”         Gypsy Rose Lee (Rose Louise Hovick; 1911-1970)         American Burlesque queen and author         This quip has been widely attributed to Lee in the decades since her death and appears to have been a favorite witticism of hers. However, there doesn’t seem to be any record of her saying it or using it in any of her books while she was alive.

CHESTERTON’S COUNTERQUOTE: “If a thing is worth doing it is worth doing badly.”        G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)         English writer, philosopher and critic        A line from his book What’s Wrong with the World (1913). In context, it was his way of praising hobbies and other activities done by amateurs for pleasure, even if they have no special talent for them.

WALLY’S WISDOM: “My philosophy is that anything worth doing is too hard.”         The character Wally, in the December 27, 2004 edition of Scott Adams’ comic strip Dilbert.

MAYBE MICK’S MOTTO?: “Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.”         This saying is widely attributed to Mick Jagger, but without any specific citation of when he may have said it. The Yale Dictionary of Modern Proverbs says it dates back to at least 1962, when it was used in the headline of an ad for Jantzen Sportswear.

THE SUCKY BEGINNINGS PRINCIPLE: “Anything worth doing is going to suck at the beginning. Anything worth doing is meant to require pain and sacrifice. Herein lies the problem facing America, which originally was built on the moral of impulse control. What once used to be a country filled with people sacrificing momentary pleasure for a better future, the overpowering message of today is live for the moment.”         Benjamin P. Hardy         American columnist and author         In one of his posts on the TheLadders.com site (Jan. 22, 2019) *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     * Comments? Corrections? Questions? Email me or post them on my Famous Quotations Facebook page. Related reading, viewing and listening…

“The customer is always right” … or maybe not.

THE FAMED BUSINESS MOTTO: “The customer is always right.”         Harry Gordon Selfridge (1857-1947)        US-born British businessman and founder of the Selfridges store chain         This famous business motto is traditionally attributed to Selfridge and was popularized by him. However, as noted by the great Phrase Finder site and other sources, Selfridge may have shoplifted the saying from American department store magnate Marshall Field, who Selfridge worked for as a young man.

PETER’S RULE: “Peter’s Salesmanship Rule: The customer is always ripe.”        Laurence J. Peter (1919-1990)        Canadian educator and author best known as the creator of “The Peter Principle”         His wry version of the famed business motto, in his book Peter's Almanac (1982)

DOGBERT’S RULES: “There are two essential rules of management.   One: the customer is always right.   Two: they must be punished for their arrogance.”        Dogbert         A variation once posited by the hilariously evil canine cartoon character in Scott Adams’ Dilbert comic strips.

LE VERSION FRANCAISE: “France...a country where shop-owners seem to be guided by the credo that the customer is always, incontrovertibly wrong.”         Ruadhán Mac Cormaic        Irish journalist        In his column in The Irish Times, March 1, 2010

THE SALES CLERKS' COUNTERQUOTE: "Whoever said 'the customer is always right' clearly never worked with the public a day in their life."        A "Rottenecard" that most current and former employees of any type of retail outlet can relate to.

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Related reading and viewing…

5 things – including “Income Inequality” – that are just another word for something else…

KRISTOFFERSON’S FAMOUS OBSERVATION: “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose, Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’, but it’s free.”        Kris Kristofferson        American songwriter, musician and actor         Lyrics from the chorus of his song “Me and Bobby McGee” (1969), made even more famous by Janis Joplin’s cover version on her posthumously-released album Pearl (1971)

THE AMAZING “INCOME INEQUALITY IS GOOD” PITCH: “The Democrats’ current campaign against income inequality is puzzling, if you think about it. Income inequality is a wonderful thing. In fact, a society without income inequality would scarcely be worth living in. No income inequality means no promotions; no advancement; no reward for training, education, hard work or experience; no benefit to being talented, creative or innovative...Income inequality is just another word for opportunity.”        John Hinderaker        American lawyer and conservative political writer        In his April 21, 2014 column on the Conservative PowerLine blog        (“Wealth Gap” by Walt Handelsman)

WISDOM FROM WALLY: “Freedom is just another word for people finding out you’re useless.”        Wally          The guru of work avoidance in Scott Adams’ Dilbert comic strip        Explaining one of his timeless insights to Asok, in the April 11, 2008 Dilbert comic strip        Also used by Scott Adams as the title of a book of Dilbert cartoons in 2009

PATTI’S PUNK ROCK VARIATION: “I wouldn’t go on Dick Clark because I’d be required to lip-synch. I showed armpit hair on the cover of my EASTER album, and it was so disturbing to people, which I still don’t understand, so they wouldn’t rack it in the South...To me, those people didn’t understand punk rock at all. Punk rock is just another word for freedom.”        Patti Smith        American musician and author        In an interview in the January 10, 2010 issue of New York magazine

A LIBERAL’S VIEW: “For the ascendant, post-9/11, populist right-wing, freedom is just another word for low taxes and an invasive, religiously correct authoritarianism.”        Wendy Kaminer        American lawyer, writer and free speech activist        In an opinion piece posted on the liberal blog Spiked (September 8, 2011)

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Related reading and listening…

“Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”

THE ORIGIN OF THE FAMOUS MISQUOTE: “On resiste a l’invasion des armees; on ne resiste pas a l’invasion des idees.”        Victor Hugo (1802-1885)        French novelist, poet, playwright and historian        The French sentence above is from the final chapter of Hugo’s book Histoire d’un Crime (“The History of a Crime”), his account of the French coup d’état of 1851 that brought Napoleon III to power. It’s the origin of the famous quotation that is commonly, but erroneously attributed to Hugo: “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” (Also cited as “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”) In reality, the literal English translation of the sentence from Hugo’s Histoire d’un Crime is: “One can resist the invasion of armies; one cannot resist the invasion of ideas.” The oft-cited English paraphrase versions were never spoken or written by Hugo.

EGYPT’S RECENT PROOF OF THE CONCEPT: “Victor Hugo once wrote: ‘No one can resist an idea whose time has come’...The times when Arab rulers could treat their people like naughty children are over.”        Ismail Serageldin        Director of The Library of Alexandria in Egypt and one of the country’s leading intellectuals        Quoted in a news story about the Egyptian people’s revolt on Speigel Online International, February, 2011

AN MLK SCHOLAR’S COMMENT ON EGYPT: “In Egypt we are witnessing the 24/7 validation of Victor Hugo's observation in the 1800s that ‘more powerful than the March of mighty armies is an idea whose time has come.’ More importantly, we are witnessing the universal power of the legacies of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. – their commitment to non-violent civil disobedience as an instrument to successfully effect fundamental political change to peacefully achieve participatory democracy.”        Clarence B. Jones        Scholar in Residence, Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University        In an opinion piece on The Huffington Post, February 8, 2011

MLK’S OWN OBSERVATION: “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”        Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)        American civil rights leader and clergyman        In his book Strength to Love (1963)

ALAIN’S COUNTERQUOTE: “Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when you have only one idea.”        Alain (pen name of Emile Auguste Chartier; 1868-1951)        French philosopher, journalist, and pacifist          In his book Propos sur la religion (“Remarks on Religion,” 1938)

THE SERVICEMAN’S COUNTERQUOTE: “There is something more powerful than an idea whose time has come – the willingness to voluntarily risk your life for something beyond your self, a self-sacrifice that gives others freedoms to do things like sit around and freely express their thoughts about this and that.”        Blogger Brian Thomas        In a post about men and women who serve in the military, on his blog La Sensual Political, November 24, 2010

OSCAR WILDE’S OPINION: “An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.”        Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)        Irish writer, poet and wit        In his book The Critic as Artist (1891)        Later used by Elbert Hubbard in his magazine The Philistine

THE PRECONCEPTIONS PRINCIPLE: “There is something more powerful than an idea whose time has come, to wit, an idea which reinforces one’s preconceptions.”        Blogger Tom Maguire        On his blog Just One Minute, September 10, 2007

THE CAMPY MOVIE CRAP PRINCIPLE: “Teaching tolerance through broad humor and outrageous camp isn’t an idea whose time has come; it’s an idea whose time has passed.”        Stephanie Zacharek        Salon.com movie critic        In her review of the movie But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)

WALLY’S CORPORATE BOSS PRINCIPLE: “Nothing is more dangerous than a boss with a spreadsheet.”        Wally         Corporate cube dweller and philosopher        In Scott Adams’ Dilbert cartoon strip (1998)

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Comments? Corrections? Post them on the Famous Quotations Facebook group.

Further reading: books about great ideas…

An idea whose time has come

QUOTE:

“Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come.” 
       Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
       French poet, novelist, and playwright 
       Histoire d'un Crime (written 1852, published 1877)

---> More stuff by and about Hugo

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COUNTERQUOTE:

"Nothing is more dangerous than a boss with a spreadsheet."
       Wally (b. 1989)
       Professional cartoon character 
       In Scott Adams’ Dilbert cartoon strip (1998)

---> More Dilbert and Wally stuff

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