Incompetence Quotes

In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. (Laurence J. Peter)
It has become almost a cliche to remark that nobody boasts of ignorance of literature, but it is socially acceptable to boast ignorance of science and proudly claim incompetence in mathematics. View quote
Richard Dawkins
Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence. View quote
Napoleon Bonaparte
One of the chief features of incompetence was an inability to see it in oneself. View quote
Kim Stanley Robinson
I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary. View quote
Billy Joel
It happens; incompetence is rewarded more often than not. View quote
Jeff Lindsay
In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything else gives them too much credit. View quote
Charles Krauthammer
Oligopoly is an imperfect monopoly. Like the despotism of the Dual Monarchy, it is saved only by its incompetence. View quote
John Kenneth Galbraith
The supreme crime of the church to-day is that everywhere and in all its operations and influences it is on the side of sloth of mind; that it banishes brains, it sanctifies stupidity, it canonizes incompetence. View quote
Upton Sinclair
Management cares about only one thing. Paperwork. They will forgive almost anything else-cost overruns, gross incompetence, criminal indictments-as long as the paperwork's filled out properly. And in on time. View quote
Connie Willis
Behold the crucifix; what does it symbolize? Pallid incompetence hanging on a tree. (Anton LaVey)
On almost every issue involving postwar Iraq, [Bush's] assumptions and policies have been wrong. This strange combination of arrogance and incompetence has not only destroyed the hopes for a new Iraq. It has had the much broader effect of turning the United States into an international outlaw. View quote
Fareed Zakaria
Someone who says "I am busy” is either declaring incompetence (and lack of control of his life) or trying to get rid of you. View quote
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which. View quote
Douglas Adams
Everyone rises to their level of incompetence. View quote
Laurence J. Peter
In most hierarchies, supercompetence is more objectionable than incompetence. View quote
Laurence J. Peter
Incompetence plus incompetence equals incompetence. View quote
Laurence J. Peter
Evil is a form of incompetence. View quote
Alan Bullock
The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline. View quote
James C. Collins
I do not scruple to employ mendacity and a fictitious appearance of female incompetence when the occasion demands it. View quote
Elizabeth Peters
Man cannot live by incompetence alone. (Charlotte Whitton)
But the technology was accessible, which suggests incompetence on the part of our counterintelligence community and the Clinton Administration, and may in fact rise to the level of treason. View quote
Charles Bass
Arrogance, ignorance, and incompetence. Not a pretty cocktail of personality traits in the best of situations. No sirree. Not a pretty cocktail in an office-mate and not a pretty cocktail in a head of state. In fact, in a leader, it's a lethal cocktail. View quote
Graydon Carter
The incompetence regarding body and vehicle armor rises almost to a level of criminal negligence. View quote
John Olver
Luck is always the last refuge of laziness and incompetence. View quote
James Cash Penney