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A.A. Milne (on ranking and the happy mind)

“The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.”

Alan Alexander Milne (1882-1956) was a British writer who produced novels and many plays, in addition to considerable long-term contributions to the humour magazine Punch. He was quite unhappy that his work before and especially after his Winnie the Pooh stories (and poems written with his son Christopher Robin in mind), including a popular detective novel, were all swamped by the tide of attention and love for his children’s books.

We don’t go in quite so much these days for rating the quality of people’s minds, but surely these words are a useful guide to elevating our focus.