Competent Quotes

“Dare to be competent. Competency is what makes everyone remain at peace when things are being handled by you. Watch yourself if everyone feels uncomfortable just because it’s you doing it.”

“So many people can now write competent stories that the short story is in danger of dying of competence.”

“We live in an age of equivocal competency: if you want, you can be a competent dictator, a competent self-promoter, a competent terrorist. Just because you can do something well does not mean you should be doing it.”

“In the last twenty years the colleges have been emphasizing creative writing to such an extent that you almost feel that any idiot with a nickel's worth of talent can emerge from a writing class able to write a competent story. In fact, so many people can now write competent stories that the short story as a medium is in danger of dying of competence. We want competence, but competence by itself is deadly. What is needed is the vision to go with it, and you do not get this from a writing class.”

“Life is not about being complacent, its all about being competent.”

“When the competent men of the system are compelled to quit, the system will soon quit itself.”

“It is the curse of the competent―not to be called upon.”

“We need more portrayals of women as competent professionals and happy mothers - or even happy professionals and competent mothers.”

“Theological formation is the gradual and often painful discovery of God's incomprehensibility. You can be competent in many things, but you cannot be competent in God.”