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.

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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

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

Carlo M. Cipolla

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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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

Depression is a physical illness.

Terry Bradshaw

After great pain a formal feeling comes. The Nerves sit ceremonious like tombs.

Emily Dickinson

I had a career at home, and I just knew that it'd be okay if nothing happened in Los Angeles.

Alona Tal

I always have confidence, whether I miss four in a row or make four in a row, that the next one's going in. To a coach, sometimes that might not make sense.

Stephen Curry

We are never further from what we wish than when we believe that we have what we wished for.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

All I want to do is a rom-com, but you know, people see me as an action person because the first movie that was seen by a lot of the public would be 'Hitman.'

Olga Kurylenko

Humor is the ability to see three sides to one coin.

Ned Rorem

Integrity is a very important and an almost indispensable virtue that all leaders must possess. This is especially true in the Philippine context because we Filipinos really respond to leadership by example.

Grace Poe

Be willing to have it so. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.

William James

Nothing can save something that is not meant to be, no matter how hard you try.

Bipasha Basu

If there are no heroes to save you, then you be the hero.

Denpa Kyoshi

I think that between the egos of the actors and the wrestlers in this country we are taking away from the truly dedicated and informed people who should be getting their voice heard.

Dwayne Hickman

Before you have children, you mostly think about the world in terms of yourself. And when you become a parent, the focus shifts to somebody else.

Joanne Harris

I try to write about things, places, events, and phenomena I know about personally. That helps make the novels more genuine.

Lincoln Child

Most people in the U.K. discovered me playing a standard on Parkinson. In America, it was on VH1 singing an original called 'All At Sea,' which is a contemporary pop song. So the people that know me there tend to think of me in the singer/songwriter category.

Jamie Cullum

At town meetings, you can see the shy folks, the ones who have trouble sounding off in public, leaning against the back wall or bending over their knitting. On talk radio, those people are invisible, but they're there. It's a mistake to think that the blowhards who call in speak for the nation.

Donella Meadows

I think it's the responsibility of a designer to try to break rules and barriers.

Gianni Versace

Over the past decade, prescribing information has grown more and more complex, more and more dense and more difficult to negotiate.

Andrew von Eschenbach

The best way to win against the intolerable is to tolerate them, for this they have seldom dealt with. Your indulgence may soften their malice and open their eyes to more honorable ways.

Bryant H. McGill

But I can't wait to watch the Tonys this Sunday. I'm really glad Broadway is doing so well this year, especially with its straight plays. It's been a wonderful year.

Gregory Harrison

I'm in the process of trying to organize my DVDs into some kind of order and it's taking me weeks. I have everything from obscure 'Antonioni' to 'Terminator Salvation.'

Michael Weatherly

I know so many people who are so much better at it than I am, and I think I'm a goofier person rather than a serious, dramatic actress, so I probably belong in comedy.

Paget Brewster

Animals represent the abstract notion of acceptance. Living with these funny creatures - you kind of have to accept them. It's like a test in a way.

Shaun Tan

Treat others as you want them to treat you because what goes around comes around

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