222 Quotes by Laurence J. Peter

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

An optimist expects his dreams to come true; a pessimist expects his nightmares to.

The modern child will answer you back before you've said anything.

When I want your opinion I'll give it to you.

Don't worry about middle age: you'll outgrow it.

In most hierarchies, supercompetence is more objectionable than incompetence.

If you can't keep up, drag them down to your level.

Competition in academia is so vicious because the stakes are so small.

Most hierarchies are nowadays so cumbered with rules and traditions, and so bound in by public laws, that even high employees do not have to lead anyone anywhere, in the sense of pointing out the direction and setting the pace. They simply follow precedents, obey regulations, and move at the head of the crowd. Such employees lead only in the sense that the curved wooden figurehead leads the ship .