Laurence J. Peter

Competence, like truth, beauty, and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder.

— Laurence J. Peter

Going to church doesn't make you any more a Christian than going to the garage makes you a car.

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

Slump, and the world slumps with you. Push, and you push alone.

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

The best intelligence test is what we do with our leisure.

— Laurence J. Peter

In every organization there is a considerable accumulation of dead wood in the executive level.

— Laurence J. Peter

Occupational incompetence is everywhere. Have you noticed it? Probably we all have noticed it.

— Laurence J. Peter

In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.

— Laurence J. Peter

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

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

Never stand when you can sit; never walk when you can ride; never Push when you can Pull.

— Laurence J. Peter

Incompetence plus incompetence equals incompetence

— Laurence J. Peter

The only valid rule about the proper length of a statement is that it achieve its purpose effectively.

— Laurence J. Peter

On second thought, maybe the atheist cannot find God, for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman.

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

If two wrongs don't make a right, try three.

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

The habitually punctual make all their mistakes right on time.

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

Expert: a man who makes three correct guesses consecutively.

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job.

— Laurence J. Peter

Speak when you are angry - and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.

— Laurence J. Peter

The great question is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with failure.

— Laurence J. Peter

If two wrongs don't make a right, try three.

— Laurence J. Peter

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

— Laurence J. Peter

Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.

— Laurence J. Peter

The best intelligence test is what we do with our leisure.

— Laurence J. Peter

Expert: a man who makes three correct guesses consecutively.

— Laurence J. Peter

Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices.

— Laurence J. Peter

An intelligence test sometimes shows a man how smart he would have been not to have taken it.

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter

Every girl should use what Mother Nature gave her before Father Time takes it away.

— Laurence J. Peter

Expert: a man who makes three correct guesses consecutively.

— Laurence J. Peter

Speak when you are angry - and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.

— Laurence J. Peter

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

— Laurence J. Peter