Laurence J. Peter Quotes

A man doesn't know what he knows until he knows what he doesn't know.

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

do it now. There may be a law against it tomorrow.

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 ... Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.

. . . if you can tell the difference between good advice and bad advice, you don't need advice.

An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.

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

A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it.

Don't believe in miracles - depend on them.

In spite of warnings, nothing much happens until the status quo becomes more painful than change.

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

It's strange that men should take up crime when there are so many legal ways to be dishonest.

Political success is the ability, when the inevitable occurs, to get credit for it.

My problem is I say what I'm thinking before I think what I'm saying.

America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation.

The problem with temptation is that you may not get another chance.

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

Prejudice is one of the world's greatest labor-saving devices; it enables you to form an opinion without having to dig up the facts.

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

Middle age is when work is a lot less fun and fun is a lot more work.

It is wise to remember that you are one of those who can be fooled some of the time.

Noblest of all dogs is the hot-dog; it feeds the hand that bites it.

Fortune knocks but once, but misfortune has much more patience.

The reason crime doesn't pay is that when it does, it is called a more respectable name.

May your happiest days of the past be your saddest days of your future.