From: Jaws
Genre: Movies
Who said it?: Martin Brody
The story behind the quote: Jaws was Steven Spielberg’s first major hit. While he was already acclaimed as a good director, it was this film that garnered him mainstream success. In fact, Jaws is noted to be a pivotal film since it created the “formula” for a summer blockbuster movie.
Jaws tells the story of a great white shark terrorizing a summer resort town, attacking all swimmers that enter the water. Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider), along with marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and professional shark hunter, Quint (Robert Shaw) to stop the shark.
The quote comes from the scene where Brody, onboard Quint’s ship, the Orca, is adding chum into the water to attract the shark. The shark appears out of nowhere and is much larger than what they expected. Brody retreats into the quarters of the Orca, turns to Quint and delivers the quote.
Geek wisdom: It’s easy to underestimate a problem. We let ourselves be confident with our abilities to resolve issues and concerns immediately. What happens is that we don’t plan for contingencies if (and when) our plans fail. Basically, we do have the habit of underestimating problems when it’s actually better to overestimate them.
The initial plan to fix a problem may work, but what if it doesn’t? It’s always better to be overly prepared for a situation rather than having to scramble when you realize that you don’t have enough resources when you encounter the issue.