Neverisms Read online

  Never underestimate the power of a cartoonist.

  Kidd loved the drawings and asked Lionni to produce a final set of six cartoons. A week later, when the campaign was formally pitched to the editors and art director of Ladies’ Home Journal, it was enthusiastically received and approved for an immediate launch. Over the next three years, Lionni drew nearly a hundred of the cartoons for advertisements in The New Yorker and other leading magazines. His final drawing, done late in 1942, was never formally published, but it was clearly the most dramatic. Under the magazine’s advertising slogan was an image of Adolf Hitler giving a “Heil Hitler” salute juxtaposed against an image of the majestic Statue of Liberty proudly lifting her Torch of Freedom high.

  Leo Lionni, 1942. Used with permission from the Lionni family.

  Lionni’s pivotal role in the Ladies’ Home Journal advertising campaign served as a springboard for a spectacular career. He went on to become an influential art director, an acclaimed fine artist, and, later in life, an internationally renowned author of children’s books. It all started in 1939, though, with what he described in his 1997 autobiography Between Worlds as, “My legendary stroke of luck when I rescued a line of copy from a wastepaper basket.”

  It is because of Leo Lionni’s efforts that Never underestimate the power of a woman became a successful corporate slogan. But what was it about the saying that made it an American catchphrase? Perhaps it simply reflected the increased role women played in American life after the 19th Amendment gave them the vote in 1920. Or perhaps it was a concrete way of honoring the many pioneering role models—like Amelia Earhart, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Eleanor Roosevelt—who were often featured in the pages of the magazine. Or maybe it was simply a case of perfect timing. The saying, after all, became popular at the time many women—like “Rosie the Riveter”—contributed to the war effort by taking jobs that had previously been held only by men. Like so many popular advertising slogans, there was a delightful vagueness about the precise meaning of the saying—and that vagueness may have helped to boost its popularity.

  And, not surprisingly, with the success of the saying came a legion of spin-offs penned by authors whose names have been lost to history:

  Never underestimate the power of love.

  Never underestimate the power of forgiveness.

  Never underestimate the power of a single vote.

  Never underestimate the power of simple courtesy.

  Never underestimate the value of a firm handshake.

  Never underestimate the cunning of your opponent.

  Never underestimate the power of a kind word or deed.

  Never underestimate the importance of a first impression.

  While the foregoing observations have a slightly clichéd quality, there are many others that are deeply inspirational, especially when we understand the context in which they were made or the background of the person offering the thought.

  Never underestimate the power of dreams

  and the influence of the human spirit.

  Wilma Rudolph said this shortly after the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. The first American to win three track-and-field gold medals, she added: “We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” During the 1960 games, Rudolph’s story captured the attention of the world. Born twenty years earlier into a poor Tennessee family, she was the twentieth of twenty-two children. A sickly child whose early life was plagued by scarlet fever, pneumonia, and polio, she wore leg braces until she was nine. She once recalled, “My doctors told me I would never walk again. My mother told me I would. I believed my mother.” Inspired by her mother’s words, young Wilma shed her braces and by age twelve was running faster than all the boys her age. She went on to become a star high school athlete and, after joining the track team at Tennessee State University, a world-class sprinter.

  In addition to the danger of underestimating things, warnings about the exact opposite problem have been attributed to two famous Americans:

  Never overestimate the taste of the American public.P. T. BARNUM

  Never overestimate the intelligence of the American people.H. L. MENCKEN

  While these sayings have never been found in the writings or remarks of Barnum and Mencken, they continue to be repeated—in part because they capture the essence of the two cultural icons, but also because the never overestimate phrase so succinctly paves the way for a memorable conclusion.

  Still other people have managed, often in quite memorable ways, to combine the problems of underestimating and overestimating in the same thought:

  Never underestimate your power to change yourself.

  Never overestimate your power to change others.H. JACKSON BROWN JR. in Life’s Little Instruction Book (1991)

  In preparing your speeches,

  you will do well to adapt the news reporters’ code:

  “Never overestimate the information of your audience;

  never underestimate the intelligence of your audience.”STEPHEN LUCAS, in The Art of Public Speaking (1986)

  Never underestimate your own intelligence,

  and never overestimate the intelligence of others.DAVID J. SCHWARTZ, in The Magic of Thinking Big (1987)

  In the remainder of the chapter, you’ll find a wide variety of additional never underestimate and never overestimate quotations. As you read on, don’t be surprised if you get the itch to create a few of your own original observations. It’s a kind of fill-in-the-blanks phenomenon that you can easily observe for yourself. The next time you go to a party, challenge your fellow partiers to come up with witty or creative endings to a sentence that begins with the words Never underestimate. When the contributions on that topic die down, do the same thing with Never overestimate. Be prepared for some howls of laughter along with a few groans here and there, and don’t be surprised if a few contributions veer off in a raunchy direction. But it should all be great fun, and you can experience the enjoyment of knowing that the fun you’re having can be traced to Leo Lionni’s accidental discovery of a slip of paper in a wastepaper basket a little more than seventy years ago.

  Never underestimate the cleaning power

  of a 94-year-old chick with a French name.ADVERTISING SLOGAN, Bon Ami scouring powder, 1980

  Since 1886, the red-and-yellow cans of Bon Ami scouring powder have appeared with an image of a newly hatched chick (it is still the product’s trademark image). In 1901, the slogan “Hasn’t scratched yet” was added to the mix, and over the years many attempts were made to make sure that American consumers knew bon ami was French for “good friend.” In an effort to revive sagging sales in 1980, the company came out with this slogan, an obvious spin-off of the famous Ladies’ Home Journal slogan.

  Never underestimate the incentive generated

  by the prospect of seeing one’s name in print.STEPHEN ANDREW

  Never underestimate people’s capacity for screw-ups,

  stupidity, misunderstandings, unproductive grudges, ignorance,

  and other great traits which set us apart from the animals.GAIA & ELY ASHER, in Management for Cannibals (2003)

  Never underestimate the powers of a poem;

  never overestimate the powers of a reader.WALLACE BACON

  Never underestimate an opponent’s daring

  or overestimate his stupidity.THOMAS A. BAILEY, in The Art of Diplomacy (1968)

  Bailey was referring to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, but his assessment has been true throughout history: a country that minimizes the threat posed by a mortal enemy is in danger. In his book, Bailey said that a favorite theme of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was that democracies were not as weak as they were commonly perceived, nor dictatorships as powerful. Dulles expressed the latter view this way: “Never overestimate the strength of a dictatorship.”

  My dad thinks I paid for all this with catering jobs.

  Never underestimate the power of denial.WES BENTLEY, to Kevin Spacey, in the 1999 film
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  American Beauty (screenplay by Alan Ball)

  In the film, Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a middle-aged man in the midst of a major identity crisis. Bentley plays Lester’s next-door neighbor Ricky Fitts, a teenage loner who works part-time at a catering job as a “cover” for his real source of income—selling marijuana. When Lester enters Ricky’s bedroom for his first pot purchase, he is impressed by the expensive audio and video system in the room. Ricky responds to Lester with the foregoing “denial” neverism.

  You must never underestimate the power of the eyebrow.JACK BLACK

  Never underestimate what it takes to watch someone you love in pain.ERMA BOMBECK

  Bombeck is best known for her wit and humor, but she could also write with great sensitivity about the pathos of life. This observation came from “The Heroism of Care-Givers,” a column that paid tribute to the millions of anonymous people who minister to the needs of the ill, the elderly, and the infirm. Bombeck wrote that every day, the nurturer is confronted by pain that must be faced squarely and “without benefit of numbing painkillers or anesthetics.”

  Never underestimate our ability to ignore the obvious.PO BRONSON, in What Should I Do With My Life? (2002)

  Bronson, an anthropologist, profiled the lives of fifty people searching for “their true calling.” Many of Bronson’s subjects worked for many years at unsatisfying careers —all the while ignoring deep inner voices urging them to walk down another life path.

  Never underestimate the power of words

  to heal and reconcile relationships.H. JACKSON BROWN JR., in Life’s Little Instruction Book (1991)

  Never underestimate the power of self-absorption,

  including your parents’ self-absorption.RITA MAE BROWN

  Never underestimate the role pretension plays

  when it comes to creating euphemistic language.GEORGE CARLIN

  Never underestimate the effectiveness of a straight cash bribe.CLAUD COCKBURN, from In Time of Trouble (1956)

  In 1993, Edward E. Sanders gave his book on buying with cash a similar title: Never Underestimate the Power of Cash Deals.

  Never underestimate the emotional impact you have as a leader.LEE COCKERELL, former Disney Executive

  Vice President, in Creating Magic (2008)

  Never overestimate the literacy or the attention span

  of people who are terribly, terribly busy.JOHN COWAN

  Never underestimate the quality of state schools.

  By far they are the most economical and wisest choice

  when pursuing an undergraduate degree.ANTHONY J. D’ANGELO, in The College Blue Book (1995)

  Never underestimate the ability of a teenager.KEN DAVIS

  Davis offered this in a 1988 guide for teens titled How to Live with Your Parents Without Losing Your Mind. Alluding to the biblical figure who slayed Goliath, he wrote: “From the time of David up to now, teenagers like you have distinguished themselves in history by proving that when they put their minds to something, they can frequently do it better and with more conviction than most adults.”

  Never underestimate an adversary.DANNY DE VITO, to Michael Douglas,

  in the 1989 film The War of the Roses

  De Vito, in the role of divorce attorney Gavin D’Amato, is referring to Barbara Rose (Kathleen Turner) as he offers this advice to client Oliver Rose (played by Douglas). Oliver ignores the advice, a decision he will ultimately regret.

  Never underestimate the powers of a librarian in the age of the Internet.ANITA DIAMANT, from a character

  in her 2001 novel Good Harbor

  Never overestimate the competence of those around you.CHARLES HARRINGTON ELSTER & JOSEPH ELLIOT

  This appeared in Tooth and Nail: A Novel Approach to the New SAT (1994), an SAT preparation book in the form of a mystery novel.

  Never underestimate a parent’s ability to mortify his child.PETER GALLAGHER, as Sanford “Sandy” Cohen

  in a 2004 episode of The O.C.

  Never underestimate the effect

  being confronted by the FBI will have on a suspect.THOMAS GIBSON, as Special Agent Aaron Hotchner in a

  2007 episode of the CBS-TV series Criminal Minds

  Never underestimate the insecurity of a star.WILLIAM GOLDMAN, in Adventures in the Screen Trade (1983)

  Never overestimate the depth of anti-intellectual traditions.STEPHEN JAY GOULD, in Bully For Brontosaurus (1991)

  In a chapter on “The Dinosaur Rip-off,” Gould reported on a survey in which 30 percent of American adults believed that dinosaurs and human beings inhabited the Earth at the same time—a view rejected by all respected scientists. Gould wrote the book three decades ago, and I can only imagine what he might have to say today about the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, which presents an account of man’s early history according to a literal reading of the Book of Genesis. The museum, which opened in 2007, portrays human beings and dinosaurs as coexisting in a world created over a six-day period approximately six thousand years ago.

  Never underestimate the effect a mother’s love has on a child,

  even when that child becomes an adult.ANDREW M. GREELEY & MARY G. DURKIN,

  in The Book of Love (2002)

  Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.ROBERT A. HEINLEIN

  This line became an instant classic almost immediately after appearing as an entry in “The Notebooks of Lazarus Long” in Heinlein’s Time Enough for Love (1973). It also inspired some well-known spin-offs:

  You can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public.SCOTT ADAMS, creator of Dilbert

  Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH

  Never underestimate the hypocrisy of politicians.JAMES HERBERT

  Never underestimate the power of the office grapevine.RUTH HOUSTON, in Is He Cheating on You? (2002)

  Never underestimate a genius with a chip on his shoulder.NICOLE KIDMAN, to Alec Baldwin, in the 1993 film Malice

  Never underestimate the power of words.MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., in a 1954 sermon

  titled “Propagandizing Christianity”

  In his first month as pastor of Montgomery, Alabama’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Reverend King gave his new congregation a taste of things to come. Challenging the negative connotation of the term “propaganda,” he argued that “Propaganda may be good or bad depending on the merit of the case urged.” He urged Christians to become “propaganda agents,” saying, “If Hitler could do all of this with an evil idea, it seems that we could rock the world with the truth of the saving power of the gospel.”

  Never underestimate the magnitude of the forces

  that reinforce complacency and help maintain the status quo.JOHN P. KOTTER, in Leading Change (1996)

  Kotter, a Harvard Business School professor, described this as “A good rule of thumb in a major change effort.” In his 2002 sequel The Heart of Change (written with Dan S. Cohen), Kotter offered these three additional rules of thumb that might be derived from the study of human history and the observation of people in organizations:

  Never underestimate the power of a good story.

  Never underestimate the power of the mind to disempower.

  Never underestimate the power of clever people

  to help others see the possibilities,

  to help them generate a feeling of faith, and to change behavior.

  Never underestimate an enemy!LOUIS L’AMOUR, in Last of the Breed (1986)

  Never underestimate the power of appealing to a person’s ego.

  Sometimes you want to inflate it, and other times you want to attack it.DAVID J. LIEBERMAN, in Never Be Lied to Again (1999)

  Never underestimate the impact of the law of unexpected consequences.HARVEY B. MACKAY, in Pushing the Envelope

  All the Way to the Top (1998)

  Never underestimate the power of

  a simple thank-you note . . . or a note of congratulations.HARVEY B. MACKAY, in Dig Your Well

&
nbsp; Before You’re Thirsty (1997)

  In Management Mess-Ups (2008), Mark Eppler echoed the theme: “Never underestimate the power of a handwritten note of concern or appreciation.”

  Never underestimate the power of a single individual to affect the world.

  Remember, one candle in a cave lights everything.ABRAHAM H. MASLOW, from an unpublished essay,

  found in Maslow’s papers after his death

  1. Never underestimate the importance of money.

  2. Never overestimate the importance of money.MARK H. MCCORMACK

  These were at the very top of McCormack’s “Ten Commandments of Street Smarts” offered in What They Still Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School (1989).