C. Northcote Parkinson
C. Northcote Parkinson
Cyril Northcote Parkinsonwas a British naval historian and author of some 60 books, the most famous of which was his best-seller Parkinson's Law, which led him to be also considered as an important scholar in public administration and management...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth30 June 1909
C. Northcote Parkinson quotes about
procrastination denial delay
Delay is the deadliest form of denial.
inspirational income expenditures
Expenditure rises to meet income.
communication void poison
The void created by the failure to communicate is soon filled with poison, drivel and misrepresentation.
kings ignorance law
No king or minister could have instructed Newton to discover the law of gravity, for they did not know and could not know that there was such a law to discover. No Treasury official told Fleming to discover penicillin. Nor was Rutherford instructed to split the atom by a certain date...
mean law agendas
The Law of Triviality... briefly stated, it means that the time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.
work law firsts
Parkinson's First Law: Work expands to fill the time available.
decision important delay
If there is a way to delay an important decision, the good bureaucracy, public or private, will find it.
perfection institutions collapse
Perfection of planned layout is achieved only by institutions on the point of collapse.
numbers prestige administrators
Administrators make work for each other so that they can multiply the number of their subordinates and enhance their prestige.
real body members
When any organizational entity expands beyond 21 members, the real power will be in some smaller body.
opportunity men decision
The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take.
government people use
Make the people sovereign and the poor will use the machinery of government to dispossess the rich.
rumor poison vacuums
The vacuum created by a failure to communicate will quickly be filled with rumor, misrepresentations, drivel, and poison.
issues body matter
The matters most debated in a deliberative body tend to be the minor ones where everybody understands the issues.