Law #1 Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

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Carlo M. Cipolla

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The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

This explores the controversial subject of stupidity. Stupid people are seen as a group, more powerful by far than major organizations such as the Mafia and the industrial complex, which without regulations, leaders or manifesto nonetheless manages to operate to great effect and with incredible coordination. by Carlo M. Cipolla

Stupidity

People

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Human behaviour

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Law #2 The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

Carlo M. Cipolla

Law #3 A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

Carlo M. Cipolla

Law #4 Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

Carlo M. Cipolla

Law #5 A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Carlo M. Cipolla

A stupid person is more dangerous than a pillager.

Carlo M. Cipolla

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Two factors are important to consider when exploring human behaviour: Benefits and losses that an individual causes to: 1. him or herself and 2. to others.

Torsten Caspar

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Intelligent people (top right), who contribute to society and who leverage their contributions into reciprocal benefits.

Carlo M. Cipolla

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Helpless people (top left), who contribute to society but are taken advantage of by it (and especially by the "bandit" sector of it); note, however, that extreme altruists and pacifists may willingly and consciously (rather than helplessly) accept a place in this category for moral or ethical reasons.

Carlo M. Cipolla

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Bandits (bottom right), who pursue their own self-interest even when doing so poses a net detriment to societal welfare.

Carlo M. Cipolla

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Stupid people (bottom left), whose efforts are counterproductive to both their and others' interests.

Carlo M. Cipolla

I think governments can't do much.

Dalai Lama

I think so much depends on how you are feeling mentally and emotionally. I try to keep my head on tight, and try to feel good, and just go out there and not be afraid.

Delta Burke

It's great that New York has large spaces for art. But the enormous immaculate box has become a dated, even oppressive place. Many of these spaces were designed for sprawling installations, large paintings, and the Relational Aesthetics work of the past fifteen years.

Jerry Saltz

I love soccer. My father is from Argentina and my mother is from El Salvador. I grew up watching Argentinean soccer. I get really worked up watching soccer. It's in my blood.

J. D. Pardo

I've been campaigning like anything for restoring these changes. For 27 years. I wrote a book about it, well, a portion of the book was devoted to these scenes and why they should have been in the movie.

William Peter Blatty

It is difficult to overstate the importance of media as a tool to encourage civic engagement and participation, and the importance of a diverse and well-informed public.

Tony Cardenas

Never lose hope, my heart, Miracles dwell in the invisible.

Rumi

Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes but they dont quit.

Conrad Hilton

On a smash TV series, you make much more money than you ever can in a movie. Do you know how much more Bill Cosby will make than Spielberg? The money for successful television is unbelievable.

Lee Rich

I wanted to get that sense of peace and even boredom that comes with long familiarity.

Debbie Reynolds

By mere burial man arrives not at bliss; and in the future life, throughout its whole infinite range, they will seek for happiness as vainly as they sought it here, who seek it in aught else than that which so closely surrounds them here - the Infinite.

Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Animals interest me more than anything else.

Douglas Brinkley

Somebody has to take responsibility for being a leader.

Toni Morrison

One fine day I discovered that more complex plays really have to be directed.

Trevor Nunn

If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way.

Aristotle

Before you can work smart you must work hard.

Chris Pardo

Marriage, to women as to men, must be a luxury, not a necessity; an incident of life, not all of it.

Susan B. Anthony

Elephants are highly emotional. Whatever they are feeling, they let it out immediately, and the histrionics are over and forgotten in a moment, lasting no longer than the cloud formations that are constantly coming apart and re-forming overhead. There is no guile in pachyderms.

Alex Shoumatoff

I want to run until I can't run.

Bill Rodgers

Islamic terrorists do not need an excuse to attack the United States. To attack us is what they do; they attack us for what we are.

Tom Cotton

I'm almost completely without family and it's a very odd feeling in life. I have no children.

Walter Mosley

I like the creative aspect of developing a project.

Priscilla Presley

We love because it is the only true adventure.

Nikki Giovanni

The Spy Act strikes a right balance between preserving legitimate and benign uses of this technology, while still, at the same time, protecting unwitting consumers from the harm caused when it is misused and, of course, designed for nefarious purposes.

Cliff Stearns