Big idea Quote by John Updike
““When I was in power, I found that experts can’t be trusted. For this simple reason: unlike tyrants, they are under no delusion that a country, a people is their body. Under this delusion a tyrant takes everything personally. An expert takes nothing personally. Nothing is ever precisely his fault. If a bridge collapses, or a war miscarries, he has already walked away. He still has his expertise. Also,---people imagine that because a thing is big, it has had a great deal of intelligent thought given to it. This is not true. A big idea is even more apt to be wrong than a small one, because the scale is inorganic. The Great Wall, for instance, is extremely stupid. The two biggest phenomena in the world right now are Maoism and American television, and both are extremely stupid.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: The New Yorker, “The Expert and the Tyrant”, 1975
Experts are detached from personal stakes, making their judgments less biased but also less accountable, while large ideas often ignore practical realities and can be foolish.
In simple terms: Experts lack personal bias but may avoid responsibility; big ideas can be foolish.
Key Takeaway
Question expertise critically and consider scale.
Themes
bias
responsibility
scale
ideas
expertise
Mood
skeptical
critical
analytical
Type
observational
analytical
When to use this quote
- policy analysis
- project planning
- technology assessment
- public discourse
Key Concepts
philosophy
political critique
psychology
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you balance expertise with accountability?
- When do big ideas become harmful?
A Different Perspective
Large ideas can be misleading without practical testing.
