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
issues body matter
The matters most debated in a deliberative body tend to be the minor ones where everybody understands the issues.
government people use
Make the people sovereign and the poor will use the machinery of government to dispossess the rich.
men life-is initiative
The man whose life is devoted to paperwork has lost the initiative. He is dealing with things that are brought to his notice, having ceased to notice anything for himself.
real body members
When any organizational entity expands beyond 21 members, the real power will be in some smaller body.
loyalty quality diplomats
The basic quality for the diplomat is not intelligence but loyalty.
work law numbers
Parkinson's Fourth Law: The number of people in any working group tends to increase regardless of the amount of work to be done.
decision important delay
If there is a way to delay an important decision, the good bureaucracy, public or private, will find it.
rumor poison vacuums
The vacuum created by a failure to communicate will quickly be filled with rumor, misrepresentations, drivel, and poison.
men phrases facts
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. General recognition of this fact is shown in the proverbial phrase "It is the busiest man who has time to spare."
adversity people observation
People of great ability do not emerge, as a rule, from the happiest background. So far as my own observation goes, I would conclude that ability, although hereditary, is improved by an early measure of adversity and improved again by a later measure of success.
perfection institutions collapse
Perfection of planned layout is achieved only by institutions on the point of collapse.
work law firsts
Parkinson's First Law: Work expands to fill the time available.
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.
numbers prestige administrators
Administrators make work for each other so that they can multiply the number of their subordinates and enhance their prestige.