It’s a sentiment that I generally agree with, but feel is not elaborate in its current form. Of course, it needs to be kept short and sweet to appeal to a general audience, but, my understanding of the deeper meaning is this: If you know what you’re doing, rules can be safely ignored. Some rules are made as preventative measures, some as responses to problems of the past. If you understand a few basic things about rules, you’ll find that they are not roadblocks, but speed bumps.
- WHY a rule was made
- WHAT it was made to accomplish
- WHO benefits from your compliance
Now, I don’t think it’s my place to suggest exactly HOW and WHEN to break rules, but with this framework of questions, you should be able to make that determination for yourself. If you know WHY a rule was made, you understand that people have tried to do what you’re trying to do, to no avail. If you’re more crafty than them, you can probably get away with it. If you know WHAT a rule was made to accomplish, you can now decide if you can safely navigate the consequences of breaching the rule without trouble. Knowing WHO compliance to the rule benefits speaks for itself; if you’re breaking a rule that affects only you, the decision becomes that much easier, if the rule was made to keep people at large comfortable and safe, take this into consideration as well.
Note here the difference between laws and rules. Laws have much heavier consequences than rules. If you’re crafty enough, this, too, becomes just another consideration. Now, if you apply these questions to rules you follow every day, you’ll get a good idea of just which rules you are comfortable breaking and those which should really rather just be kept.