Daily Inspiration Quote by Tom Brokaw

Brokaw’s line lands like a quiet rebuke to a culture that’s gotten very good at confusing profit with purpose. “Make a buck” is deliberately casual, almost dismissive: not “build a fortune,” not “create value,” just the quick, low-friction transaction. The phrase carries the implied modern truth that money is increasingly decoupled from meaning. You can monetize attention, outrage, vulnerability, even misinformation. The bar for revenue is low; the incentives are everywhere.

“Make a difference,” by contrast, is vaguer but heavier. It demands time, patience, and a tolerance for outcomes you can’t fully measure. Brokaw, as a journalist, isn’t accidentally choosing that contrast. This is the ethic of public service disguised as a bumper-sticker aphorism: the reminder that institutions meant to serve the public (newsrooms, government, philanthropy, even business) are constantly tempted to optimize for the scoreboard that updates fastest. Money tallies cleanly. Impact doesn’t.

The subtext is also a defense of labor that isn’t easily monetized: civic engagement, reporting that holds power accountable, mentorship, community work. In a media economy that rewards clicks and speed, “difference” reads like the harder assignment: accuracy, context, accountability, and the unglamorous follow-through after the cameras move on.

Its intent isn’t to shame ambition; it’s to re-rank it. Brokaw offers a simple hierarchy: cash is competence, difference is character.