Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1444IR // #c1444Verbatim excerpt
I don't know if it has occurred to you that, even if you could steal the gold bit by bit -- a matter of a hundred years or so -- you could not get it very far?

— Source: The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)

[Use when]

Before bidding on a distressed competitor's customer list or inventory, price out the exact labor and legal cost of migrating the load.

[Why it matters]

Smaug's taunt exposes the expedition's blind spot: winning a prize without a transport plan only paints a target on your back.

Filed under situations:When you must decide and the facts aren’t in

More from The Hobbit

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Same situation, different book

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