“How does it happen that the most intractable types always rise to the top?”

Source: Academy Series - Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins, The Engines of God (1994), Chapter 6 (p. 81)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "How does it happen that the most intractable types always rise to the top?" by Jack McDevitt?
Jack McDevitt photo
Jack McDevitt 125
American novelist, Short story writer 1935

Related quotes

“In any broth, the scum always rises to the top.”

Source: Drenai series, Legend, Pt 1: Against the Horde, Ch. 22

Thomas Sowell photo

“The greatness of a free-market economy is that it does not depend upon the wisdom of those who happen to be on top at the moment.”

Thomas Sowell (1930) American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author

“Rise and fall of a business,” Monterey Herald, December 30, 2000
2000s

David Berg photo
Ernest Gellner photo

“Obstruction of mobility, where it occurs, is one of the most serious and intractable problems of industrial society.”

Ernest Gellner (1925–1995) Czech anthropologist, philosopher and sociologist

Source: Nations and Nationalism (1983), Chapter 8, The Future Of Nationalism, p. 114

A.A. Milne photo

“Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.”

Source: The House at Pooh Corner (1928)
Context: Then Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh walked hand in hand down the forest path and they said goodbye. So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the forest a little boy and his bear will always be playing.

Thiago Silva photo

“Thiago Silva is a top player, who has played at a very high level. Top clubs hardly ever lose that type of player.”

Thiago Silva (1984) Brazilian footballer

Pep Guardiola, 2011 http://globoesporte.globo.com/futebol/mundial-de-clubes/noticia/2011/11/guardiola-trata-neymar-como-mais-um-bom-jogador-e-elogia-thiago-silva.html
From coaches and club directors

John D. Barrow photo

“Mathematics became an experimental subject. Individuals could follow previously intractable problems by simply watching what happened when they were programmed into a personal computer.”

John D. Barrow (1952–2020) British scientist

Introduction
Cosmic Imagery: Key Images in the History of Science (2008)
Context: Mathematics became an experimental subject. Individuals could follow previously intractable problems by simply watching what happened when they were programmed into a personal computer.... The PC revolution has made science more visual and more immediate.... by creating films of imaginary experiences of mathematical worlds.... Words are no longer enough.

Michael Jackson photo

“Lovely is the feeling now,
Fever, temperature's rising now,
Power is the force, the vow,
That makes it happen,
It asks no questions how.”

Michael Jackson (1958–2009) American singer, songwriter and dancer

Off the Wall (1979)

Barack Obama photo

“That change didn't happen from the top down, but it happened from the bottom up.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2017, Farewell to Staff Members (January 2017)
Context: That change didn't happen from the top down, but it happened from the bottom up. It was met sometimes with skepticism and doubt. Some folks didn't think we could pull it off. There were those that felt that the institutions of power and privilege in this country were too deeply entrenched. And yet, all of you came together in small towns and big cities, a whole bunch of you really young, and you decided to believe and you knocked on doors and you made phone calls and you talked to your parents who didn't know how to pronounce Barack Obama. And you got to know each other. And you went into communities that maybe you had never even thought about visiting and met people that on the surface seemed completely different than you -- didn't look like you or talk like you or watch the same TV programs as you. And yet, once you started talking to them, it turned out that you had something in common. And it grew and it built. And people took notice. And throughout, it was infused with a sense of hope. As I said in 2004, it wasn't blind optimism that drove you to do all of this work. It wasn't naiveté. It wasn't willful ignorance to all the challenges that America faces. It was hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. You proved the power of hope.

Related topics