We are all such a waste of our potential, like three-way lamps using one-way bulbs.

The line appears as one of several short aphorisms in McLaughlin’s 1963 book "The Neurotic’s Notebook". Later it circulated without attribution and was also reused in a 1991 religious book by Derric Johnson in a slightly expanded framing about faith.

It uses the image of a lamp capable of multiple brightness levels paired with a bulb that can only operate at one level to suggest people often live below their full capabilities, never reaching their highest “setting.”

We are like three-way lamps using one-way bulbs.