Contradictory Aphorisms

Abstract

Contradictory ideologies from eminent personalities have spawned endless debate over the meaning and achievement of success. Varying ideas of what constitutes the embodiment of ultimate success inevitably lead to diverging views. Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish-American industrialist who earned his fortune in the steel industry, is often regarded as the second richest man after John D. Rockefeller. He once declared, “The first to the oyster gets the pearl.” In contrast, Peter Gomes, an American preacher and theologian at Harvard Divinity School, preached, “The second mouse gets the cheese.”