What you do [to provide better aid is] you shut up. You never arrive in a community with any ideas.

Ernesto Sirolli (1937–2022), an Italian development practitioner and founder of the Sirolli Institute, became known for criticizing top‑down aid and economic development programs. The line is associated with his recounting of early work in international development—often framed as a lesson learned from failed projects—where outside experts arrived with prepackaged solutions that did not fit local realities. In talks and interviews, Sirolli uses blunt, humorous phrasing to argue that effective assistance begins with listening to community members and understanding what they already know, want, and can sustain, rather than importing “ideas” from outsiders.

The quote is a deliberately provocative summary of Sirolli’s “shut up and listen” principle: outsiders cannot assume they understand a community’s needs better than the people who live there. “Never arrive…with any ideas” does not reject expertise outright; it rejects imposing solutions before learning local constraints, incentives, and aspirations. The underlying claim is that durable development depends on local ownership—projects succeed when they align with residents’ priorities and capacities, and when external support is responsive rather than directive. The phrasing also critiques the paternalism of aid culture, where good intentions can still produce dependency or failure.