david strasser: ignorance

In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. ¶Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. ¶In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. ¶The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. ¶When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. ¶If his work be mediocre, he will be left severely alone – if he achieve a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a -wagging. ¶Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. ¶Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius. ¶Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious, continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountebank, long after the big world had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. ¶Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. ¶The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by. ¶The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy – but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. ¶There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as human passions – envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. ¶And it all avails nothing. ¶If the leader truly leads, he remains – the leader. ¶Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. ¶That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. ¶That which deserves to live — lives.
written by Theodore F. MacManus

david strasser

Search authors and keywords here.

Search This Blog

Sunday, September 08, 2024

Post #3246

Sunday, August 06, 2023

Post #3188

Sunday, January 15, 2023

Post #3158

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Post #2493

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

Post #2158

Friday, March 25, 2016

Post #2040

Monday, March 14, 2016

Post #2031

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Post #1997

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Post #1822

Friday, March 01, 2013

Post #1201

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Post #1160

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Post #1105

Monday, April 05, 2010

Post #185

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Post #87

Improvise · Adapt · Overcome

Translate it

The Penalty of Leadership

A deadly viper once bit a hole snipe's hide; But 'twas the viper, not the snipe, that died.