"If everything is very important, then nothing is important"
About this Quote
The intent is managerial, but the subtext is moral. He’s arguing that priorities are not just bureaucratic conveniences; they’re a form of honesty. Calling everything “very important” is a way to dodge accountability, because it turns hard choices into a fog of equal claims. Leaders can hide inside that fog: if everything mattered equally, no single failure can be named, no tradeoff can be admitted, no one can be held responsible for what was left undone.
In Mulroney’s Canada - a country defined by regional tensions, constitutional brinkmanship, and constant bargaining across interests - the quote reads as a critique of performative consensus. Politics there often rewards the language of inclusion and universal validation. Mulroney’s jab is that this rhetorical generosity can become evasive: a refusal to rank, to disappoint, to govern.
It also lands as a media-age prophecy. When the spotlight swivels hourly and outrage is always “breaking,” the only real currency left is discrimination: the courage to say, calmly, that some things matter more than others.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Mulroney, Brian. (2026, January 13). If everything is very important, then nothing is important. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-everything-is-very-important-then-nothing-is-38609/
Chicago Style
Mulroney, Brian. "If everything is very important, then nothing is important." FixQuotes. January 13, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-everything-is-very-important-then-nothing-is-38609/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"If everything is very important, then nothing is important." FixQuotes, 13 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/if-everything-is-very-important-then-nothing-is-38609/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.















