"A talent somewhat above mediocrity, shrewd and not too sensitive, is more likely to rise in the world than genius"
About this Quote
Meritocracy takes a hit here, and Cooley lands it with a sociologist's cool precision. He's not dunking on genius so much as diagnosing the social ecosystem that often neutralizes it. A person "somewhat above mediocrity" is competent enough to be useful, "shrewd" enough to read the room, and "not too sensitive" enough to endure the small humiliations that lubricate institutional life: office politics, gatekeeping, polite indifference, and the endless demand to package yourself.
The sting is in the calibration. Cooley praises not greatness but survivable excellence, the kind that fits existing hierarchies without threatening them. Genius can be awkwardly surplus: too original, too volatile, too morally or aesthetically stubborn to become a smooth employee of the prevailing order. Sensitivity, in this frame, isn't tenderness; it's friction. It's the inability (or refusal) to treat rejection as a routine administrative event.
Context matters: Cooley, a foundational figure in symbolic interactionism, understood "rising in the world" as a social process, not a pure tally of talent. Status is awarded through perception, networks, and the "looking-glass self" - who you think you are is partly built from how you imagine others see you. Shrewdness is social literacy; it converts competence into recognition. Genius, by contrast, can misread the cues, underinvest in presentation, or provoke defenses in those who control advancement.
The quote works because it refuses inspirational narrative and replaces it with an unromantic model of mobility: success as a negotiation with institutions, where being slightly better than average - and emotionally armored - often beats being extraordinary.
The sting is in the calibration. Cooley praises not greatness but survivable excellence, the kind that fits existing hierarchies without threatening them. Genius can be awkwardly surplus: too original, too volatile, too morally or aesthetically stubborn to become a smooth employee of the prevailing order. Sensitivity, in this frame, isn't tenderness; it's friction. It's the inability (or refusal) to treat rejection as a routine administrative event.
Context matters: Cooley, a foundational figure in symbolic interactionism, understood "rising in the world" as a social process, not a pure tally of talent. Status is awarded through perception, networks, and the "looking-glass self" - who you think you are is partly built from how you imagine others see you. Shrewdness is social literacy; it converts competence into recognition. Genius, by contrast, can misread the cues, underinvest in presentation, or provoke defenses in those who control advancement.
The quote works because it refuses inspirational narrative and replaces it with an unromantic model of mobility: success as a negotiation with institutions, where being slightly better than average - and emotionally armored - often beats being extraordinary.
Quote Details
| Topic | Success |
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