Paul Dickson Quotes

• The human hand is made complete by the addition of a baseball.

  Paul Dickson

  Baseball, Hands, Made

  Paul Dickson (2014). “The Official Rules: 5,427 Laws, Principles, and Axioms to Help You Cope with Crises, Deadlines, Bad Luck, Rude Behavior, Red Tape, and Attacks by Inanimate Objects”, p.76, Courier Corporation

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• Abbott's Admonitions: (1) If you have to ask, you're not entitled to know. (2) If you don't like the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question.

  Paul Dickson

  Answers, Admonition, Knows

  Paul Dickson (2014). “The Official Rules: 5,427 Laws, Principles, and Axioms to Help You Cope with Crises, Deadlines, Bad Luck, Rude Behavior, Red Tape, and Attacks by Inanimate Objects”, p.1, Courier Corporation

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• In any decision situation, the amount of relevant information available is inversely proportional to the importance of the decision.

  Paul Dickson

  Decision, Information, Importance

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• A system tends to grow in complexity instead of simplicity, until the resulting unreliability becomes intolerable.

  Paul Dickson

  Simplicity, Unreliability, Complexity

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• May you look back on the past with as much pleasure as you look forward to the future.

  Paul Dickson

  Past, Looks, May

  Paul Dickson (2014). “Rising to the Occasion: The Best Toasts for Any Celebration”, p.57, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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• The odds are six to five that the light in the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.

  Paul Dickson

  Tunnels, Light, Odds

  Washingtonian November 1978

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• No experiment is ever a complete failure. It can always be used as a bad example.

  Paul Dickson

  Success, Teaching, Making Mistakes

  Paul Dickson (2014). “The Official Rules: 5,427 Laws, Principles, and Axioms to Help You Cope with Crises, Deadlines, Bad Luck, Rude Behavior, Red Tape, and Attacks by Inanimate Objects”, p.55, Courier Corporation

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• Airplane Law, The: When the plane you are on is late, the plane you want to transfer to is on time.

  Paul Dickson

  Funny Life, Airplane, Law

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• Allen's Law of Civilization: It is better for civilization to be going down the drain than to be coming up it.

  Paul Dickson

  Funny, Humor, Law

  Paul Dickson (2014). “The Official Rules: 5,427 Laws, Principles, and Axioms to Help You Cope with Crises, Deadlines, Bad Luck, Rude Behavior, Red Tape, and Attacks by Inanimate Objects”, p.9, Courier Corporation

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• The great comfort of turning forty-nine is the realization that you are now too old to die young.

  Paul Dickson

  Age, Comfort, Realization

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• The more innocuous the name of a weapon, the more hideous its impact. Some of the most horrific weapons of the Vietnam era were named Bambi, Infant, Daisycutter, Grasshopper, and Agent Orange. Nor is the trend new: From the past we have Mustard Gas, Angel Chasers [two can-nonballs linked with a chain for added destruction], and the Peacemaker, to name a few.)

  Paul Dickson

  Angel, Past, Impact

  "The Official Rules: 5,427 Laws, Principles, and Axioms to Help You Cope with Crises, Deadlines, Bad Luck, Rude Behavior, Red Tape, and Attacks by Inanimate Objects".

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• A businessman needs three umbrellas - one to leave at the office, one to leave at home, and one to leave on the train.

  Paul Dickson

  Money, Business, Home

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• Accuracy, Rule of, Corollary: Provided, of course, that you know there is a problem.

  Paul Dickson

  Problem, Accuracy, Courses

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• All real programs contain errors until proved otherwise which is impossible.

  Paul Dickson

  Real, Errors, Impossible

  Paul Dickson (2014). “The Official Rules: 5,427 Laws, Principles, and Axioms to Help You Cope with Crises, Deadlines, Bad Luck, Rude Behavior, Red Tape, and Attacks by Inanimate Objects”, p.127, Courier Corporation

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• A clean tie attracts the soup of the day.

  Paul Dickson

  Ties, Soup, Clean

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• Advice, First Law of: The correct advice to give is the advice that is desired.

  Paul Dickson

  Law, Giving, Advice

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• Albrecht's Law: Social innovations tend to the level of minimum tolerable well being.

  Paul Dickson

  Law, Innovation, Levels

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• Don't bite the hand that has your allowance in it.

  Paul Dickson

  Hands, Advice, Allowance

  Paul Dickson (2014). “The Official Rules: 5,427 Laws, Principles, and Axioms to Help You Cope with Crises, Deadlines, Bad Luck, Rude Behavior, Red Tape, and Attacks by Inanimate Objects”, p.36, Courier Corporation

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• Abrams's Advice: When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time.

  Paul Dickson

  Elephants, Advice, Eating

  Paul Dickson (2014). “The Official Rules: 5,427 Laws, Principles, and Axioms to Help You Cope with Crises, Deadlines, Bad Luck, Rude Behavior, Red Tape, and Attacks by Inanimate Objects”, p.1, Courier Corporation

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