Laurence J. Peter Quotes

Canadian educator (1919–1990)

Add quote

Laurence Johnston Peter (16 September 1919 – 12 January 1990) was a Canadian educator and management theorist, most famous for having formulated the Peter Principle.

From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Alternative Names: Laurence Johnston Peter • Laurence Peter

From Wikidata (CC0)

Showing quotes in randomized order to avoid selection bias. Click Popular for most popular quotes.

Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status

Before publishers' blurbs were invented, authors had to make their reputations by writing.

There are two kinds of failures: those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought

In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.

A political party now exists primarily as an apparatus for selecting candidates and getting them elected to office.

Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.

For each individual, for you, for me, the final promotion is from a level of competence to a level of incompetence.

Dr. Peter observed that one reason so many employees are incompetent is that the skills required to get a job often have nothing to do with what is required to do the job itself. The skills required to run a great political campaign have little to do with the skills required to govern.

In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties. Do not be fooled by apparent exceptions.

Slump, and the world slumps with you. Push and you push alone.

Some Blockett-type employees actually believe that they have received a genuine promotion; others recognize the truth. But the main function of a pseudo-promotion is to deceive people outside the hierarchy. When this is achieved, the maneuver is counted a success.

Nobody understands how the incessant pressure from above and the incurable incompetence below make it utterly impossible for me to do an adequate job and keep a clean desk.

A pessimist is a man who looks both ways when he crosses the street.

Real, constructive mental power lies in the creative thought that shapes your destiny, and your hour-by-hour mental conduct produces power for change in your life. Develop a train of thought on which to ride. The nobility of your life as well as your happiness depends upon the direction in which that train of thought is going.

Know, all the good that individuals find, Or God and Nature meant to mere Mankind, Reason’s whole pleasure, all the joys of Sense, Lie in three words, Health, Peace, and Competence. (Ibid., 11. 77–80)