Wit & Attitude Quote by Michael Korda

Merit, Korda implies, is not self-executing. The line stings because it reverses a comforting civic myth: that excellence inevitably rises. Calling the diligent craftsman "the biggest fool" is deliberate provocation, a slap at the Protestant-work-ethic fantasy that quality alone guarantees recognition. Korda is less interested in laziness than in naivete about how institutions actually reward people.

"Appearance" here isn’t just vanity or wardrobe. It’s the whole theater of credibility: how you frame your work, signal status, narrate your value, cultivate alliances, and make the right people feel secure about backing you. The word "attending" does quiet work, suggesting appearance is maintenance, not deception - something you either manage or you’re managed by. In creative and corporate worlds alike, the person who refuses the theater doesn’t opt out; they simply surrender the stage to someone else.

The subtext is slightly ruthless: not everyone can assess the work, but everyone can assess the packaging. Gatekeepers, editors, executives, readers - they operate with limited time and imperfect expertise, so they lean on proxies. Presentation becomes a translation layer between excellence and opportunity. Korda, a novelist who also spent decades in publishing, would have watched manuscripts live or die not only on craft but on positioning: the pitch, the persona, the market story, the aura of inevitability.

It works because it’s both cynical and practical. It doesn’t celebrate superficiality; it warns that refusing visibility is its own kind of self-sabotage.