- Feb 5, 2002
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It’s a great line, but also one of the more dangerous among G.K. Chesterton‘s famous sayings. “If a thing’s worth doing,” he said, “it’s worth doing badly.” It gives some people an excuse and misdirects others.
Though as I say, it’s a great line. It rejects a pernicious modern idea of success, the idea that makes people say “I can’t do that very well, so I shouldn’t even try.” It rebukes the voice (internal or external) that says of something you want to do or feel called to do, “You’ll make a mess of it. Don’t even try. Leave it to the professionals.”
We hear people talk like that all the time. Gifted people won’t exercise their gifts because they feel they’ll never be good enough, judged by unrealistic and impractical standards.
I thought the line really dumb when I first read it, because I thought the key words are “doing badly,” and why should you encourage people to do anything badly? People produce enough bad work without encouragement.
I didn’t see that “worth” is the key word. Chesterton begins with reality, not what we do with it. That is, with affirmation, not judgment. One day I finally saw that he only meant that a thing worth doing is … worth doing.
The clever part was his contradicting, with that unexpected last word, a very common mistake that denies the worth of worthy things unless you do them up to someone’s standards. He helps us see how broad a range of performance “worth” could cover.
Continued below.
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Though as I say, it’s a great line. It rejects a pernicious modern idea of success, the idea that makes people say “I can’t do that very well, so I shouldn’t even try.” It rebukes the voice (internal or external) that says of something you want to do or feel called to do, “You’ll make a mess of it. Don’t even try. Leave it to the professionals.”
We hear people talk like that all the time. Gifted people won’t exercise their gifts because they feel they’ll never be good enough, judged by unrealistic and impractical standards.
I thought the line really dumb when I first read it, because I thought the key words are “doing badly,” and why should you encourage people to do anything badly? People produce enough bad work without encouragement.
I didn’t see that “worth” is the key word. Chesterton begins with reality, not what we do with it. That is, with affirmation, not judgment. One day I finally saw that he only meant that a thing worth doing is … worth doing.
The clever part was his contradicting, with that unexpected last word, a very common mistake that denies the worth of worthy things unless you do them up to someone’s standards. He helps us see how broad a range of performance “worth” could cover.
Ripe for misuse
Continued below.
A closer look at Chesterton's 'worth doing badly'
David Mills argues that G.K. Chesterton’s famous line, “If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly,” needs revision.
www.oursundayvisitor.com
