The Greater Fool

The case can be made that a lot of things worth doing require you to risk looking like a fool. Imagine, for prime example, what conversations the Wright Brothers' neighbours might have had about them behind their backs. Yet today, airplanes are so embedded into the way we travel that it is difficult to imagine what long distance travel was like before they existed.

That is why I love this quote from The Newsroom an American show by Aaron Sorkin:

“The greater fool is actually an economic term. It’s a patsy. For the rest of us to profit, we need a greater fool— someone who will buy long and sell short. Most people spend their life trying not to be the greater fool; we toss him the hot potato, we dive for his seat when the music stops. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.”

Here's to Greater Fools. May we have the courage to be them.