"The world is divided into people who do things - and people who get the credit"
About this Quote
The intent is double-edged. On one hand, it flatters the doers: the builders, fixers, implementers who keep institutions running while someone else takes the bow. On the other, it normalizes a hierarchy in which credit is a commodity captured by those positioned closest to the microphone: executives, politicians, founders, the well-networked. The sentence hinges on that blunt dash, turning what could be a motivational poster into a cynical organizational chart.
The subtext is about visibility and narrative control. "Doing things" is private, messy, and distributed; "getting the credit" is public, tidy, and singular. Morrow implies that recognition isn't merely unfairly allocated, it's strategically managed. Credit follows status more reliably than it follows contribution, which is why modern workplaces still reward presentation, proximity to decision-makers, and the ability to tell a clean story about a complicated process.
Context matters: Morrow came up in early 20th-century American finance and diplomacy, worlds built on delegation and representation. In that ecosystem, being the face of the work can matter more than the work itself. The quote doesn't ask you to stop doing; it asks you to notice who owns the story afterward.
Quote Details
| Topic | Leadership |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: Dwight Morrow (Dwight Morrow) modern compilation
Evidence: ns 2000 p 672 the world is divided into people who do things and people who get the credit try Other candidates (1) The Society of Free States (Dwight Whitney Morrow, 1919) primary40.4% ple expected we have proved to ourselves and to the rulers and people of grermany that for her |
| Featured | This quote was our Quote of the Day on July 12, 2023 |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Morrow, Dwight. (2026, February 7). The world is divided into people who do things - and people who get the credit. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-world-is-divided-into-people-who-do-things--110744/
Chicago Style
Morrow, Dwight. "The world is divided into people who do things - and people who get the credit." FixQuotes. February 7, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-world-is-divided-into-people-who-do-things--110744/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The world is divided into people who do things - and people who get the credit." FixQuotes, 7 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-world-is-divided-into-people-who-do-things--110744/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.












