Quotes by C. Northcote Parkinson

About C. Northcote Parkinson:

Cyril Northcote Parkinson was a British naval historian and author of some 60 books, the most famous of which was his best-seller Parkinson's Law, which led him to be also considered as an important scholar in public administration and management.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

When any organizational entity expands beyond 21 members, the real power will be in some smaller body.

C. Northcote Parkinson

Make the people sovereign and the poor will use the machinery of government to dispossess the rich.

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

The smaller the function, the greater the management.

C. Northcote Parkinson

Expenditures rise to meet income.

C. Northcote Parkinson

Expansion means complexity and complexity decay.

C. Northcote Parkinson

Delay is the deadliest form of denial.

C. Northcote Parkinson

Perfection of planned layout is achieved only by institutions on the point of collapse.

C. Northcote Parkinson

It is better to be a has-been than a never-was.

C. Northcote Parkinson

The man who is denied the opportunity of taking decisions of importance begins to regard as important the decisions he is allowed to take.

C. Northcote Parkinson

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

C. Northcote Parkinson

The Law of Triviality... briefly stated, it means that the time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.

C. Northcote Parkinson

Time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.

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

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

C. Northcote Parkinson

Men enter local politics solely as a result of being unhappily married.

C. Northcote Parkinson

In politics people give you what they think you deserve and deny you what they think you want.

C. Northcote Parkinson

Author Bio

  • NameC. Northcote Parkinson
  • DescriptionBritish naval historian
  • BornJuly 30, 1909
  • DiedMarch 9, 1993
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionHistorian; Writer
  • WorksParkinson's Law