Daily Inspiration Quote by Daniel Okrent

An editor admitting he worries when he’s liked is the kind of candor that sounds like a joke until you recognize it as a job description. Daniel Okrent’s line turns professional anxiety into a moral stance: approval is suspect, not because conflict is virtuous, but because editing is inherently disruptive. If everyone “likes” the editor, the editor probably didn’t cut deep enough, didn’t push hard enough, didn’t insist on standards that bruise egos and rearrange sentences.

The pivot from “liking me” to “being able to deal with me” is doing the heavy lifting. It reframes the goal from personal charm to functional trust. “Deal with” suggests friction, negotiation, toleration - the real currency of newsroom life. Editing, at its best, is a constant, low-grade confrontation with how people want to sound versus what they actually need to say. Okrent is demoting affection and promoting endurance: if writers can survive the process and still produce better work, that’s the win.

There’s also a subtle self-defense mechanism here. By redefining success as manageable irritation, he inoculates himself against the editor’s most common trap: confusing interpersonal harmony with editorial effectiveness. In an era when creative workplaces often market themselves on “culture” and likability, Okrent points to a less Instagrammable truth. Good editing doesn’t always feel good. It feels like someone cared enough to argue with your first draft.