A green seedling rises through a cracked stone slab, with roots spreading through exposed soil against a moss-green background.

Original artwork, not a still

Howard Aiken

Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are that good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The joke reverses the usual fear that someone will steal a good idea. It suggests that winning support may be much harder than keeping the idea safe. The forceful image of pushing it on people stresses how strongly new ideas can be resisted.

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