"I love pitting people against each other. My whole life is based on that. It brings out the best in people and the worst in people. If the worst comes out, you don't want them working for you"
About this Quote
The intent is both practical and performative. Practically, “pitting people against each other” is a crude but effective way to extract information: who breaks, who adapts, who flatters, who leaks. It also forces employees to compete for proximity to power, making loyalty upward more valuable than solidarity sideways. Performatively, it broadcasts dominance. A leader who openly stokes internal competition is signaling that he controls the temperature of the room, and that survival depends on reading him correctly.
The subtext is a worldview: people are only as good as they are under pressure, and pressure is something you apply to them. “It brings out the best and the worst” sounds balanced, almost fair-minded, but the final sentence reveals the trap. If the “worst” appears, it’s not an indictment of the environment that provoked it; it’s proof the person was unworthy. That’s managerial moral laundering: create the conditions for ugliness, then treat ugliness as disqualifying.
In context, it fits a brand built on competition-as-spectacle, where firing is catharsis and conflict is content. The office becomes a stage, and the boss gets to call it human nature.
Quote Details
| Topic | Management |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: Best Inspirational Thoughts (Dr. Ashish Vashisht, 2022) modern compilationID: -_RjEAAAQBAJ
Evidence:
... I love pitting people against each other . My whole life is based on that . It brings out the best in people and the worst in people . If the worst comes out , you don't want them working for you . Is there a brick wall getting in your ... |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Trump, Donald. (2026, February 9). I love pitting people against each other. My whole life is based on that. It brings out the best in people and the worst in people. If the worst comes out, you don't want them working for you. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-love-pitting-people-against-each-other-my-whole-173135/
Chicago Style
Trump, Donald. "I love pitting people against each other. My whole life is based on that. It brings out the best in people and the worst in people. If the worst comes out, you don't want them working for you." FixQuotes. February 9, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-love-pitting-people-against-each-other-my-whole-173135/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I love pitting people against each other. My whole life is based on that. It brings out the best in people and the worst in people. If the worst comes out, you don't want them working for you." FixQuotes, 9 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-love-pitting-people-against-each-other-my-whole-173135/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.





