There is no disinfectant like success.

Boorstin’s aphorism plays on the literal meaning of “disinfectant” to describe a social and reputational phenomenon: success has a cleansing power that can make earlier doubts, criticisms, or perceived flaws seem irrelevant. The line suggests that achievement often retroactively justifies methods, softens moral scrutiny, and rewrites narratives—what looked like error or eccentricity becomes “vision” once it works. It also implies a cautionary insight about public judgment: we frequently evaluate people and ideas less by intrinsic merit than by outcomes. In that sense, the quote critiques outcome-driven culture even as it acknowledges success’s undeniable ability to confer legitimacy.