Laurence J. Peter
46 quotes
Biography
Laurence Johnston Peter was a Canadian educator and "hierarchiologist" who is best known to the general public for the formulation of the Peter principle.
"Speak when you are angry, and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret."
"A censor is an expert in cutting remarks. A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to."
"In every organization there is a considerable accumulation of dead wood in the executive level."
"Occupational incompetence is everywhere. Have you noticed it? Probably we all have noticed it."
"In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence."
"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."
"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."
"Never stand when you can sit; never walk when you can ride; never Push when you can Pull."
"Incompetence plus incompetence equals incompetence"
"The only valid rule about the proper length of a statement is that it achieve its purpose effectively."
"On second thought, maybe the atheist cannot find God, for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman."
"The habitually punctual make all their mistakes right on time."
"Television has changed the American child from an irresistible force into an immovable object."
"When you see yourself quoted in print and you're sorry you said it, it suddenly becomes a misquotation."
"Dr. Peter effectively destroys examples of seeming exceptions and is rather convincing that his principle is ubiquitous."
"Slump, and the world slumps with you. Push, and you push alone."
"Speak when you are angry - and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret."
"Speak when you are angry - and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret."
"The best intelligence test is what we do with our leisure."
"Going to church doesn't make you any more a Christian than going to the garage makes you a car."
"Television has changed the American child from an irresistable force to an immovable object."
"An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart he would have been not to have taken it."
"The best intelligence test is what we do with our leisure."
"Heredity is what sets the parents of a teenager wondering about each other."
"Men now monopolize the upper levels... depriving women of their rightful share of opportunities for incompetence."