Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want. –Dan Stanford (An American businessman)
Posted by Sunloooo | Posted in
I love this quote because it is simply brilliant! It is among one of the many witty thoughts that could subtly bring a knowing smile on your face --we all have had the moments with a forced shrug saying, “ Well, it was at least good experience.”
The logic seems to be more of a deductive form to me. It starts with a general conclusion that sounds rational and as we put more thoughts on it, it is indeed applicable to many tiny details of our life. You become a great salesman after thousands of job interviews; you learn the knots even though you cannot to set up the sails right; you end up with batter after failing to make a doe. The quote is trying to say that in most parts of life, we cannot get what we intend exactly, but we usually land with something else, or at very least some experience.
The diction level is not necessarily high but the choice of words achieves its effect of revealing a small yet complex truth. The sentence only adopts a few simple words to explicate a light irony that we seldom think about. One might question the quote at first look since both success and failure are considered experience, and I agree. I interpreted the “experience” here as “lesson” rather than simple impression one could get by doing anything. (In fact, I would say “lesson” might be a better choice of word.) Otherwise, it would be pointless since we will get “experience” anyway in everything we do. In a sense, the statement is not entirely true, but the engagement with the deeper meaning of the sentence is delightful that it deems superfluous to criticize the accuracy of it.
The opposition of “get” and “don’t get” works really well to create a sense of humorous irony--- life does not always grant us what we want; on the other hand, it offers a sarcastic feeling of comfort—we are not completely fruitless although things do not go as desired. Moreover, the repetition of words makes the short sentence read like a tiny interesting twister that is easily remembered.
Little we know about this American businessman, Dan Stanford, neither do we know about the context under which he produced this piece of wisdom, but I could imagine it being a deep reflection after his life-long journey of striving for success with millions of attempts, failures and learning. Eventually, the most precious treasure is probably the experience along the way, if nothing else.
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