# Earnestness

![rw-book-cover](https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/static/images/article4.6bc1851654a0.png)

## Metadata
- Author: [[Paul Graham]]
- Full Title: Earnestness
- Category: #articles
- URL: http://paulgraham.com/earnest.html

## Highlights
- A genuine interest in something is a very powerful motivator for some people, the most powerful motivator of all.[3]Which is why it's what Jessica and I look for in founders. But as well as being a source of strength, it's also a source of vulnerability. Caring constrains you. The earnest can't easily reply in kind to mocking banter, or put on a cool facade of nihil admirari. They care too much. They are doomed to be the straight man. That's a real disadvantage in your teenage years, when mocking banter and nihil admirari often have the upper hand. But it becomes an advantage later.