“Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it.”

The quote is from Tom Lehrer. Yes, that guy, the funny one. The quote is discussed by Philosoblog at a post of the same name.

The point of the quote, and the discussion at Philosoblog, is that native skill counts on playing the piano, but long practice, focused effort, and doing the boring stuff, like finger drills and scales will pay off tremendously. There’s studying, practicing, and other dreary stuff in your field. You know what it is. 

Are you willing to do the drills and hard work to thrive and get a lot more out of life?

Update 6/24/15:  I recently bought a couple of Tom Lehrer’s albums. The actual line is a bit more earthly, but the point still stands.

The comment he attributed to a philosopher friend, right before he was taken away to the Massachusetts state home for the bewildered, was:

Life is like a sewer. What you get out of it depends on what you put into it.