Author: Dr. Laurence J. Peter

Old age is when you know all the answers, but nobody asks you the questions.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Age Definitions Old

Censor: A man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Communication Definitions Language

Against logic there is no armor like ignorance.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Intelligence

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.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Occupations Work

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

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Fools Intelligence Time Wisdom

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

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Intelligence Things

If at first you don’t succeed, you may be at your level of incompetence already.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Success

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

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Intelligence

A rut is a grave with the ends knocked out.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Situations Things

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

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Politics Success

Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Sleep Work

A pessimist is a man who looks both ways before crossing a one-way street.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Characteristics People

The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Intelligence Problems Stupidity

Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by confessing our parents’ shortcomings.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Family Health Parents

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

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
People

Democracy is a process by which the people are free to choose the man who will get the blame.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Democracy Elections/Voting Government

Middle age is when anything new in the way you feel is most likely a symptom.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Age

Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by confessing our parents’ shortcomings.

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Failure Family

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

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Success Work

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

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Intelligence

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

(1919 – 1990) educator & writer
Appearance Characteristics