How it works

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

8
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
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 1oofk90.y71rgj5rk9
Intelligent people (top right), who contribute to society and who leverage their contributions into reciprocal benefits.
Carlo M. Cipolla
7
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
The value of surrounding yourself with positive people is not what you get from them, but how good a person you have become because of them.
Roy T. Bennett
Self-sacrifice which denies common sense is not a virtue. It's a spiritual dissipation.
Margaret Deland
I haven't fallen that much, but when I have, it's usually in the attempt to do something worthwhile. As for recovery, you just have to get up!
Damian Woetzel
But it's hard to sustain a successful acting career today.
James MacArthur
I've never had a divorce, but I've seen so many of my friends, my sister, my family go through that stuff, so I try to write for the people that can't write about it. I take on their sorrow, so I'm able to kind of express it, or their joy.
Dolly Parton
I'm used to traveling. I'm used to being in different areas of the world. Home is where my suitcase lands.
Estelle
I've developed into quite a swan. I'm one of those people that will probably look better and better as I get older - until I drop dead of beauty.
Rufus Wainwright
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
II Timothy 2:15
Money is a way of creating scarcity.
Peter Coyote
That's why it has to be a nonprofit, because a nonprofit is required to take monies it receives and use them for the purposes for which it's chartered by the government. It can't be pocketed.
Mitch Kapor
At the White House, everybody works for the same person. They're all part of the same company. But on Capitol Hill, they're all independent contractors. They all work for themselves. That's a formula for getting news.
Bob Schieffer
Anything I have blown a lot of money on? Well, I have three daughters and a wife - that's four women, and I'm working on a sitcom, so you could say that I am just trying to stay alive!
Chevy Chase
We must always embrace individual liberty and enforce the constitutional rights of all Americans-rich and poor, immigrant and native, black and white.
Rand Paul
Love is a great emotion, but I believe it's not just about romance; it could be love for nature, people, for relationships.
Rani Mukerji
More is not necessarily better. Better is better.
Julie Newmar
Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.
Horace
I started doing improv my sophomore year.
Rachel Dratch
I like to not care that much about criticism, but I do care about it.
Jack Nicholson
My grandmother and my upbringing filled me with the spirit of the church and the spirit of the faith brought by Africans to the new land during slavery.
Jewell Parker Rhodes
There are very few self-made millionaires, if any, who have not taken risks which would make the rest of us unable to sleep at night, or keep our food down.
Dominic Lawson
Back in the '60s, there was a car sticker that read, 'Forget Oxfam, Feed Twiggy,' but I ate like a horse.
Twiggy
Leave the company of the people who are given you empty promises
Sunday Adelaja
All share complicity in the destruction of that much under-rated phenomenon called liberty.
Barbara Amiel
Workers must participate in progress to enjoy their work and take pride in its product.
George W. Romney