“Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made,”
Saxe was an American poet most noted for his sharing of the Indian parable about blind men and an elephant. He became involved in politics in the tumultuous 1850s. He lived in Vermont. Politics in Vermont is just as messy as in every other state, and he is quoted on the sausages in 1869.
A version of this quote, however, is usually connected to Otto von Bismarck. There is some debate as to who said it first, though there is no hard evidence to connect it to Bismarck. The quote with Bismarck says “If you want to respect law or sausage, then don’t watch either being made.” Its not too surprising to see how the quote got linked to the Prussian leader; the year after Saxe said his quote, Bismarck successfully completed his effort to unite the northern-central European states behind Prussia to become Germany. After the 1870 uniting, Bismarck was one of the most known world leaders for the next two decades.
Regardless of who said it, the point is that finding success in the making of laws is messy. I would suggest that we can take this idea BEYOND law and extend it to anything to do with coming to “best conclusions” when working with more than 1 other person. If you alone get to make decision, then everything is fine. The moment you introduce one other person, compromise is required! And compromise is messy. It demands giving up of something, of things you hold important.
I mean, that is the point. If your idea was ever accepted in full, then okay nothing is lost…but for that to happen you typically must be working with people who have no ideas of their own. If they did, then they too would be suggesting a “best conclusion” and it would differ from your own. To get to an end, then you have to be wiling to give things up.
Or, simply revert to a “might makes right” viewpoint and go crush, go silence, go kill the opposition. Want to be successful…get comfortable making sausage.