People of great ability do not emerge, as a rule, from the happiest background. So far as my own observation goes, I would conclude that ability, although hereditary, is improved by an early measure of adversity and improved again by a later measure of success.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

C. Northcote Parkinson Quotes

It is now well known, however, that men enter local politics solely as a result of being unhappily married.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

Perfection of planning is a symptom of decay. During a period of exciting discovery or progress, there is no time to plan the perfect headquarters.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

It is the busiest man who has time to spare.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

The basic quality for the diplomat is not intelligence but loyalty.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

Parkinson’s Fourth Law: The number of people in any working group tends to increase regardless of the amount of work to be done.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

The man whose life is devoted to paperwork has lost the initiative. He is dealing with things that are brought to his notice, having ceased to notice anything for himself.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. General recognition of this fact is shown in the proverbial phrase “It is the busiest man who has time to spare.”

— C. Northcote Parkinson

The chief product of an automated society is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

Deliberative bodies become decreasingly effective after they pass five to eight members.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

Where life is colorful and varied, religion can be austere or unimportant. Where life is appallingly monotonous, religion must be emotional, dramatic and intense. Without the curry, boiled rice can be very dull.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

A committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

People of great ability do not emerge, as a rule, from the happiest background. So far as my own observation goes, I would conclude that ability, although hereditary, is improved by an early measure of adversity and improved again by a later measure of success.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

Expansion means complexity and complexity decay.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

The onset of one religion can be resisted only by another.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

Parkinson’s Law is a purely scientific discovery, inapplicable except in theory to the politics of the day. It is not the business of the botanist to eradicate the weeds. Enough for him if he can tell us just how fast they grow.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

Imagination is essential and it comes first, for without imagination we are aimless.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

A committee grows organically, flourishes and blossoms, sunlit on top and shady beneath, until it dies, scattering the seeds from which other committees will spring.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

The mind reels at the multiplication of books intended to justify the author’s promotion from assistant to associate professor.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

In the foundation and development of a successful enterprise there must be a single-minded pursuit of financial profit.

— C. Northcote Parkinson

The nice thing about standards is, there are so many to choose from. Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

— C. Northcote Parkinson
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