Quotations by:
    Peter, Lawrence J.


An actuary is someone who brings a fake bomb on a plane because that decreases the chances that there will be another bomb on the plane.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
(Attributed)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
(Attributed)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by confessing our parents’ shortcomings.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
(Attributed)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
(Attributed)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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Going to church does not make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
(Attributed)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are?

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
(Attributed)
 
Added on 6-Jun-12 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can make a damn fool of yourself any old time.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Almanac, “3 December” (1982)

See Lincoln.
 
Added on 24-Jun-10 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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Tact is the art of putting your foot down without stepping on anyone’s toes.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Almanac, “July 26” (1982)
    (Source)
 
Added on 16-Jan-17 | Last updated 9-May-23
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There are two kinds of losers: (1) the good loser and (2) those who can’t act.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s People, ch. 8 (1979)
 
Added on 28-Jul-11 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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The red light is always longer than the green light.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s People, ch. 8, “Peter’s Theory of Relativity” (1979)
 
Added on 23-May-12 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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History teaches us the mistakes we are going to make.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977)
 
Added on 4-Jun-11 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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There are two kinds of egotists: Those who admit it and the rest of us.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977)
 
Added on 24-Nov-09 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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The most useful of all social graces is the ability to yawn with your mouth closed.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977)
    (Source)

Variant: As quoted in The Wall Street Journal (9 Aug 1984): 'At board meetings, "the one unmatched asset is the ability to yawn with your mouth closed," says Robert Mueller in a new book, 'Behind the Boardroom Door.'"
 
Added on 4-Sep-20 | Last updated 4-Sep-20
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Middle age is when you stop criticizing the older generation and start criticizing the younger one.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Quotations (1977)
 
Added on 13-Oct-11 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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A pessimist is a man who looks both ways before crossing a one-way street.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Quotations (1977)
 
Added on 30-May-12 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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[The reformer] wants his conscience to be your guide.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Quotations (1977)
 
Added on 21-Nov-13 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
Peter’s Almanac, entry for 24 Sep. (1982).
 
Added on 14-Aug-07 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
The Peter Principle, ch. 1 (1969)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear, but forgetting where you heard it.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
The Peter Principle (1969)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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If you don’t know where you’re going, you will probably end up somewhere else.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
The Peter Principle (1969)
 
Added on 1-Feb-04 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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Competence, like truth, beauty and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder.

Lawrence J Peter
Lawrence J. Peter (1919-1990) American educator, management theorist
The Peter Principle (1969)
 
Added on 20-Dec-07 | Last updated 3-Apr-20
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