Laurence J. Peter

"Dr. Peter effectively destroys examples of seeming exceptions and is rather convincing that his principle is ubiquitous."

"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."

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

"If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else."

"The habitually punctual make all their mistakes right on time."

"Television has changed the American child from an irresistible force into an immovable object."

"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?"

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

"When you see yourself quoted in print and you're sorry you said it, it suddenly becomes a misquotation."

"Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them."

"Die Bürokratie verteidigt den Status quo noch lange, nachdem das Quo seinen Status verloren hat."