Laurence J. Peter Quotes

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 censor is an expert in cutting remarks. A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.

Three Observations 1) The computer may be incompetent in itself — that is, unable to do regularly and accurately the work for which it was designed. This kind of incompetence can never be eliminated, because the Peter Principle applies in the plants where computers are designed and manufactured. 2) Even when competent in itself, the computer vastly magnifies the results of incompetence in its owners or operators. 3) The computer, like a human employee, is subject to the Peter Principle. If it does good work at first, there is a strong tendency to promote it to more responsible tasks, until it reaches its level of incompetence.

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

Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.

Equal opportunity means everyone will have a fair chance at being incompetent.

Two things reduce prejudice: education and laughter.

In most hierarchies, super-competence is more objectionable than incompetence.

Such an extreme policy will not be generally tolerated. So, to avoid the accumulation of incompetents, administrators have evolved the plan of promoting everyone, the incompetent as well as the competent. They find psychological justification for this policy by saying that it spares students the painful experience of failure.

America is a country that doesn't know where it is going but is determined to set a speed record getting there.

If two wrongs don't make a right, try three.

The man who says he is willing to meet you halfway is usually a poor judge of distance.

The computer may be incompetent in itself — that is, unable to do the work for which it was designed. This kind of incompetence can never be eliminated, because the Peter Principle applies in the plants where computers are designed and manufactured.

You can always tell a real friend; when you've made a fool of yourself, he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job.

La competencia de un empleado no es determinada por los extraños, sino por su superior en la jerarquía.