Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,745 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
EnglishItalianoPolskiעבריתFrançaisPortuguêsفارسیEspañol中文РусскийDeutschالعربيةहिन्दी日本語ΕλληνικάLatina
Laurence J. Peter
18 quotes
“In every organization there is a considerable accumulation of dead wood in the executive level.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Laurence J. Peter (1969) in "Up against the Peter principle". LIFE - Vol. 67, nr. 3. July 18, 1969. p. 59
“Occupational incompetence is everywhere. Have you noticed it? Probably we all have noticed it.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 20 cited in: James Ike Schaap (2011) "The Peter Principle: Is This Forty-Year-Old Universal Phenomenon in Decline or Growing?
“In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 36 cited in: James Ike Schaap (2011)
“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.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never stand when you can sit; never walk when you can ride; never Push when you can Pull.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Incompetence plus incompetence equals incompetence”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The only valid rule about the proper length of a statement is that it achieve its purpose effectively.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On second thought, maybe the atheist cannot find God, for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The habitually punctual make all their mistakes right on time.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Television has changed the American child from an irresistible force into an immovable object.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Albert Einstein (misattributed)
“Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When you see yourself quoted in print and you're sorry you said it, it suddenly becomes a misquotation.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) said by 1990 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Entry for September 24; as quoted in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1993), ed. Suzy Platt, Library of Congress, , p. 78
“Dr. Peter effectively destroys examples of seeming exceptions and is rather convincing that his principle is ubiquitous.”
Laurence J. Peter (1919–1990) first seen 1973 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lawrence Lipsitz, in The Process of Innovation in Education (1973), p. 26