How it works

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

7
Carlo M. Cipolla
Random
picture loading error handler
11 thought(s)11

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
Smart
Human behaviour
Torsten Caspar
Get

Explore more quotes

Law #1 Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
Carlo M. Cipolla
13
Law #2 The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
Carlo M. Cipolla
9
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
10
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
7
Law #5 A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.
Carlo M. Cipolla
8
A stupid person is more dangerous than a pillager.
Carlo M. Cipolla
7
Facebook:1015260697259391432756 1gc9hds.gyww6u5wmi
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
6
Facebook:1015260697259391432756 1qvlkpx.ya4ydgqfr
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
8
Facebook:1015260697259391432756 1vrq0jx.bfrlw3766r
Bandits (bottom right), who pursue their own self-interest even when doing so poses a net detriment to societal welfare.
Carlo M. Cipolla
8
Facebook:1015260697259391432756 bmrwva.px8lqpk3xr
Stupid people (bottom left), whose efforts are counterproductive to both their and others' interests.
Carlo M. Cipolla
7
To me, that's the role of government: not to give people a hand out, but a hand up... giving people the tools to pave their own way to success.
James Langevin
Each of us finds his unique vehicle for sharing with others his bit of wisdom.
Ram Dass
There is this to be said in favor of drinking, that it takes the drunkard first out of society, then out of the world.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Engineering is the professional art of applying science to the optimum conversion of the resources of nature to the uses of humankind.
ASCE
I always admired the beautiful stars of Hollywood and dreamt of becoming one of them.
Sonam Kapoor
There are no small parts; there are only small actors.
Melanie Griffith
In reality you dont ever change the hurricane. You just learn how to stay out of its path.
Jodi Picoult
The only thing that was economic, I might say, about my music career, aside from the fact that I did everybody's tax returns in the band, was the decision I made to leave the music business on economic grounds.
Alan Greenspan
It is not knowledge but the act of learning not possession but the act of getting there which grants the greatest enjoyment.
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Without execution, 'vision' is just another word for hallucination.
Mark V. Hurd
Generally, I do not talk about people - family or friends. This is how I am.
Hasnat Khan
If you're a kid at a secondary comprehensive in North London as I was in the seventies, prancing around doing acting and being a luvvie wasn't really a good idea for your personal security.
Steve McFadden
It's really easy to be funny. You get a lot of funny people in a room, the show is funny.
Jill Soloway
I never feel like I have anything. People can tell me a thousand times, 'You're the guy, you're the guy,' and I'm just like, 'We'll see when I'm on the set.'
Andy Daly
I get along with Democrats really well, and I think that's something that's unreported. I think it's partly my libertarian tendencies.
Raul Labrador
Being constantly with children was like wearing a pair of shoes that were expensive and too small. She couldn't bear to throw them out, but they gave her blisters.
Beryl Bainbridge
Peanut Butter Wolf is my relaxing music, my lunch music, my chilling music.
Norman Reedus
Dropping the news to my parents that I was skipping my 'dream education' at Chalmers to sit at home recording videos while playing video games was not easy.
PewDiePie
Value-first is a perception. If your customer does not perceive it as value, then it's not very valuable.
Jeffrey Gitomer
There are no black people in Iraq, so how will they know who to shoot at?
Greg Giraldo
I don't want my grandchildren to go through what I went through.
Art Modell
I am a strong, independent person.
Unknown
The people I want are very famous and very rich, and all I can offer them is a bit of exposure on TV and a bit of cash, so it's a miracle we get any guests at all. But we have been very lucky.
Graham Norton
The enchanting charms of this sublime science reveal only to those who have the courage to go deeply into it.
Carl Friedrich Gauss