---
title: "There is something silly about grown men and women striving to reduce… — John Ralston Saul Quote #47 | QuotesBy.net"
description: "There is something silly about grown men and women striving to reduce their vision of themselves and of civilization to bean counting. — a quote by John Ralston Saul."
image: "https://quotesby.net/wp-content/themes/quotesby-editorial/assets/og-default.png"
---

> # There is something silly about grown men and women striving to reduce their vision of themselves and of civilization to bean counting.

[John Ralston Saul](https://quotesby.net/John-Ralston-Saul)\#47

[Business](https://quotesby.net/John-Ralston-Saul/business/)[Civilization](https://quotesby.net/topics/civilization/)[Measurement](https://quotesby.net/topics/measurement/)[Vision](https://quotesby.net/topics/vision/)

[WhatsApp (opens in a new tab)](https://wa.me/?text=%E2%80%9CThere%20is%20something%20silly%20about%20grown%20men%20and%20women%20striving%20to%20reduce%20their%20vision%20of%20themselves%20and%20of%20civilization%20to%20bean%20counting.%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%94%20John%20Ralston%20Saul%20https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FJohn-Ralston-Saul%2F47%2F)[X (opens in a new tab)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=%E2%80%9CThere%20is%20something%20silly%20about%20grown%20men%20and%20women%20striving%20to%20reduce%20their%20vision%20of%20themselves%20and%20of%20civilization%20to%20bean%20counting.%E2%80%9D%20%E2%80%94%20John%20Ralston%20Saul&url=https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FJohn-Ralston-Saul%2F47%2F)[Facebook (opens in a new tab)](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fquotesby.net%2FJohn-Ralston-Saul%2F47%2F)

## About this quote

What does it mean?Reducing civilization to metrics is a foolish endeavor.In plain termsCounting numbers isn't enough to understand life.What can you take from it?Metrics cannot capture the full value of civilization.

### Where it applies

- business strategy
- public policy
- social metrics

### Putting it to work

- look beyond data
- measure what matters

### Questions to consider

- What is lost in measurement?
- Are metrics always silly?

### Another view

Metrics remain necessary for some types of management.

## More from John Ralston Saul

1. > On June 22nd, \[1633,\] in the morning, in the great hall of the Convent of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Galileo was found guilty of holding a false doctrine. He w…

[Permalink to quote \#46](https://quotesby.net/John-Ralston-Saul/46/ "Permalink to quote 46")
2. > \[G\]iven our inability over the past two decades to deal with an unbreakable chain of unemployment, debt, inflation and no real growth, we have drifted farther …

[Permalink to quote \#48](https://quotesby.net/John-Ralston-Saul/48/ "Permalink to quote 48")
3. > Venereal: From Venus, the goddess of love, this word refers to the reality of desire. With the rise of Protestantism and science, the word 'disease' was tacked…

[Permalink to quote \#45](https://quotesby.net/John-Ralston-Saul/45/ "Permalink to quote 45")

## Related quotes

1. > How are the ticket sales in Madison Square Garden?

[P.T. Barnum](https://quotesby.net/P.T.-Barnum)[P.T. Barnum quote \#4](https://quotesby.net/P.T.-Barnum/4/ "Permalink to quote 4")
2. > We are not influenced by the techniques or fashions of any other company.

[Walt Disney](https://quotesby.net/Walt-Disney)[Walt Disney quote \#5](https://quotesby.net/Walt-Disney/5/ "Permalink to quote 5")
3. > 'That's not really a number I'm terribly interested in.'

[Colin Powell](https://quotesby.net/Colin-Powell)[Colin Powell quote \#11](https://quotesby.net/Colin-Powell/11/ "Permalink to quote 11")

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "Quotation",
    "text": "There is something silly about grown men and women striving to reduce their vision of themselves and of civilization to bean counting.",
    "url": "https://quotesby.net/John-Ralston-Saul/47/",
    "spokenByCharacter": {
        "@type": "Person",
        "name": "John Ralston Saul"
    }
}
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
    "itemListElement": [
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 1,
            "name": "Home",
            "item": "https://quotesby.net/"
        },
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 2,
            "name": "Authors",
            "item": "https://quotesby.net/authors/"
        },
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 3,
            "name": "John Ralston Saul",
            "item": "https://quotesby.net/John-Ralston-Saul"
        },
        {
            "@type": "ListItem",
            "position": 4,
            "name": "Quote #47",
            "item": "https://quotesby.net/John-Ralston-Saul/47/"
        }
    ]
}
```