“It's the Idea that wins every time — the Idea with brains and guts behind it.”

—  John Buchan , book The House of the Four Winds

Envoi
The House of the Four Winds (1935)

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 "It's the Idea that wins every time — the Idea with brains and guts behind it." by John Buchan?
John Buchan photo
John Buchan 145
British politician 1875–1940

Related quotes

Seth Godin photo

“In a battle between  two ideas, the best one doesn't necessarily win. No, the idea that wins is the one with the most fearless heretic behind it.”

Seth Godin (1960) American entrepreneur, author and public speaker

Source: Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us

Swami Vivekananda photo

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

“Not all ideas of the ideas that pass from one brain to another brain... are good ideas; some are mistakes. These I call 'mismemes.'”

Richard Bergland neuroscientist

The Fabric of Mind (1985)

Ron English photo

“Holding contradictory ideas balances the brain.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

Alan Moore photo

“Behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea… and ideas are bulletproof.”

Alan Moore V for Vendetta

Source: V for Vendetta

“I was left with a great idea gutted by critical examination. But that's good. That's how we make ideas better—by trying to poke holes in them and then finding ways to fix the holes.”

Greg Craven American teacher and writer

Source: What's the Worst That Could Happen?: A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate (2009), Chapter 1 "The Decision Grid" (p. 31)

Mike Rosen photo

“Ideology is about ideas; politics is about winning elections.”

Mike Rosen (1944) American political pundit

REALITY A Plain-Talk Guide to Economics, Politics, Government and Culture

Paul Krugman photo

“It's tempting to give up—either to retreat to the ivory tower, or to start to play the policy entrepreneur game. After all, what is the use of sophisticated policy thinking or careful examination of the facts if simplistic ideas win every time?
One answer is simply that it would be wrong to give up. If the people with good ideas do not fight for them, they have no right to complain about the outcome.
But good ideas will still often lose to convenient nonsense. When that happens, every serious economist is ultimately sustained by a faith that the right ideas will eventually prevail.”

Paul Krugman book Peddling Prosperity

Epilogue
Peddling Prosperity (1994)

“So limp of brain that for them to conceive an idea is to risk a haemorrhage.”

Mervyn Peake (1911–1968) English writer, artist, poet and illustrator

Source: Gormenghast (1950), Chapter 2 (p. 403)

“Now, partly that was work, and partly that was brains, but very largely it was having the guts, the guts to be immodest in the right way.”

Edwin H. Land (1909–1991) American scientist and inventor

On the growth of Polaroid, in a statement to employees (25 June 1958), as quoted in Insisting on the Impossible : The Life of Edwin Land (1998) by Victor K. McElheny, p. 198

Related topics