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
nice standards available
The nice thing about standards is, there are so many to choose from. Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
education book mind
The mind reels at the multiplication of books intended to justify the author's promotion from assistant to associate professor.
weed law discovery
Parkinson's Law is a purely scientific discovery, inapplicable except in theory to the politics of the day. It is not the business of the botanist to eradicate the weeds. Enough for him if he can tell us just how fast they grow.
government people use
Make the people sovereign and the poor will use the machinery of government to dispossess the rich.
loyalty quality diplomats
The basic quality for the diplomat is not intelligence but loyalty.
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.