Business one-liners 24

Business one-liners 24
Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above average.

Enough research will tend to support your theory.

Entropy has us outnumbered.

Error is often more earnest than truth.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Even if the grass is greener on the other side: they, like you, still have to cut it.

Even paranoids have enemies.

Every silver lining has a cloud around it.

Every solution breeds new problems.

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.

Business one-liners 27

Business one-liners 27
Opportunity always knocks at the least opportune moment.

Other people's tools work only in other people's gardens.

Others will look to you for stability, so hide when you bite your nails.

Our present business is not to exchange compliments but arguments. - Robert Boyle, 17th century chemist

People can be divided into three groups: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.

People do not change, they only become more so.

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

People specialize in their area of greatest weakness.

People tend to make rules for others and exceptions for themselves.

People who are resistant to change cannot resist change for the worse.

Business one-liners 30

Business one-liners 30
Programming errors which would normally require one day to find will take five days when the programmer is in a hurry.

Progress is made by lazy men looking for an easier way to do things.

Progress is made on alternate Fridays.

Progress may have been all right once, but it went on too long.

Project Management is like pushing a wheelbarrow of frogs to market.

Prostitution is the only business where you can go into the hole and still come out ahead.

Quality assurance doesn't.

Quit while your still behind.

Real programmers argue with the systems analyst as a matter of principle.

Real programmers don't announce how many times the operations department called them last night.

Accountant in Heaven

Accountant in Heaven
An accountant dies and goes to Heaven. He reaches the pearly gates and is amazed to see a happy crowd all waving banners and chanting his name.

After a few minutes St. Peter comes running across and says, "I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you personally. God is looking forward to meeting such a remarkable man as yourself."

The accountant is perplexed. "I've tried to lead a good life, but I am overwhelmed by your welcome," he tells St. Peter.

"It's the least we can do for someone as special as you are. Imagine, living to the age of 123 and still looking so young," says St. Peter.

The man looks even more dumbfounded and replies, "123 years old? I don't know what you mean. I'm only 40."

St. Peter replies, "But that can't be right - we've seen your time sheets!"

Business one-liners 42

Business one-liners 42
The obscure we see eventually; the completely apparent takes a little longer.

The one item you want is never the one on sale.

The one thing that money can not buy is poverty.

The one who does the least work will get the most credit.

The one who says it can't be done should never interrupt the one doing it.

The one you want is never the one on sale.

The only important information in a hierarchy is who knows what.

The only knowledge that can hurt you is the knowledge you don't have.

The only real errors are human errors.

The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it is unfamiliar territory.

Counting some sheep

Counting some sheep
An accountant is having a hard time sleeping and so he decides to go to see his doctor. "Doctor, I just can't get to sleep at night," complains the man.

"Have you tried counting sheep?" inquired the doctor.

The accountant replied, "That's the problem, Doc. I make a mistake and then spend three hours trying to find it!"

Business one-liners 87

Business one-liners 87
Never try to pacify someone at the height of his rage.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

Never volunteer for anything.

Never wrestle a pig; you both get dirty, and he likes it.

Nice guys finish last but it is lonely at the top.

No experiment is ever a complete failure; it can always be used as a bad example.

No good deed goes unpunished.

No man is lonely while eating spaghetti.

No man's credit is as good as his money.

Business one-liners 91

Business one-liners 91
Old programmers never die, they just abend.

On a beautiful day like this, it's hard to believe anybody can be unhappy; but we will work on it.

On successive charts of the same organization, the number of boxes will never decrease.

One child is not enough, but two children are far too many.

One good thing about repeating your mistakes is that you know when to cringe.

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. - Elbert Hubbard

One of the greatest labor-saving inventions today is tomorrow.

One of those days? I have one of those lives.

One seventh of your life is spent on Mondays.

Business one-liners 51

Business one-liners 51
Anthony's Law of Force: Don't force it, get a larger hammer.

Anthony's Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll into the least accessible corner or the workshop. Corollary: On the way to the corner, any dropped tool will first always strike your toes.

Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company, Nowadays it insists on it. - Columnist Russell Baker

Banacek's Eighteenth Polish Proverb: The hippo has no sting, but the wise man would rather be sat upon by the bee.

Barker's Proof: Proofreading is more effective after publication.

Becker's Law: It is much harder to find a job than to keep one. - Jules Becker & Co. (Becker goes on to claim that his law permeates industry as well as government, "...once a person has been hired inertia sets in, and the employer would rather settle for the current employee's incompetence and idiosyncrasies than look for a new employee.")

Belle's Constant: The ratio of time involved in work to time available for work is about 0.6. - from a 1977 JIR article of the same title by Daniel McIvor and Olsen Belle, in which it is observed that knowledge of this constant is most useful in planning long-range projects. It is based on such things as an analysis of an eight hour workday in which only 4.8 hours are actually spent working (or 0.6 of the time available), with the rest being spent on coffee breaks, bathroom visits, resting, walking, fiddling around, and trying to determine what to do next.

Bennett's Laws of Horticulture: (1) Houses are for people to live in. (2) Gardens are for plants to live in. (3) There is no such thing as a houseplant.

Berkeley's Laws: (1) The world is more complicated than most of our theories make it out to be. (2) Ignorance is no excuse. (3) Never decide to buy something while listening to the salesman. (4) Most problems have either many answers or no answer. Only a few problems have a single answer. (5) Most general statements are false, including this one. (6) An exception - test a rule; it never proves it. (7) The moment you have worked out an answer, start checking it; it probably isn't right. (8) If there is an opportunity to make a mistake, sooner or later the mistake will be made. (9) Check the answer you have worked out once more - before you tell anybody. - Edmund C. Berkeley

Business one-liners 84

Business one-liners 84
Murphy was an optimist.

My client(sponsor/customer) doesn't know what he wants.

Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

Nature is a mother.

Nature will tell you a direct lie if she can.

Needs are a function of what other people have.

Never argue with a fool, people might not know the difference.

Never ask the barber if you need a haircut or a salesman if his is a good price.

Never be first to do anything.

Never be last.

Business one-liners 39

Business one-liners 39
The first time is for love, the next time is $200.

The floggings will continue until morale improves.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. - Eleanor Roosevelt

The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn.

The hardness of the butter is in inverse proportion to the softness of the bread.

The hidden flaw never remains hidden.

The idea is to die young as late as possible.

The ideal resume will turn up one day after the position is filled.

The lagging activity in a project will invariably be found in the area where the highest overtime rates lie waiting.

The least experienced fisherman always catches the biggest fish.

Business one-liners 81

Business one-liners 81
Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you.

Just when you get going, someone injects a dose of reality with a large needle.

Just when you get really good at something, you don't need to do it anymore.

Just when you think you've won the rat race, along come faster rats.

Knowledge based on external evidence is unreliable.

Laziness is the mother of nine inventions out of ten.

Leakproof seals will.

Learn to be sincere. Even if you have to fake it.

Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

Leftover nuts never match leftover bolts.

Economics textbooks

Economics textbooks
Ten things to do with a graduate Economics textbook

1. Press pretty flowers.

2. Press pretty insects.

3. Use it as paper weight on your already overcluttered desk.

4. Leave out in obvious places to impress uninformed undergraduates.

5. Mail to the White House as an intimidation tactic.

6. Give it a walk-on part in a boring European existentialist play.

7. Just throw the lousy thing away.

8. Leave out for the rain and other forces of nature to reckon with.

9. Read it, and weep.

10. Get a refund from bookstore so you can buy a weekend's beer supply.

Business one-liners 31

Business one-liners 31
Real programmers don't grumble about the disadvantages of Fortran when they don't know any other language.

Real programmers don't notch their desks for each completed service request.

Real programmers don't number paragraph names consecutively.

Real programmers print only clean compiles.

Real programmers write readable code, which they then self-righteously refuse to explain.

Remember the golden rule: Those that have the gold make the rules.

Remember the tea kettle; though up to its neck in hot water, it continues to sing.

Repetition does not establish validity.

Roses are red violets are blue, I'm schizophrenic and so am I.

Rule of defactualization: information deteriorates upward through bureaucracies.

Business one-liners 109

Business one-liners 109
Fifth Law of Applied Terror: If you are given an open-book exam, you will forget your book. Corollary: If you are given a take-home exam, you will forget where you live.

Fifth Law of Procrastination: Procrastination avoids boredom; one never has the feeling that there is nothing important to do.

Finagle's Creed: Science is true. Don't be misled by facts.

Finagle's Laws: 1) Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it only makes it worse. 2) No matter what results are expected, someone is always willing to fake it. 3) No matter what the result, someone is always eager to misinterpret it. 4) No matter what results occur, someone believes it happened according to his pet theory. 5) If an experiment works, something has gone wrong. 6) In any collection of data, the figure most obviously correct, beyond all need of checking, is the mistake. 7) The perversity of the universe tends toward a maximum. 8) Do not merely believe in miracles; rely on them.

Finagle's Law Of Government Contracting: Dealing with the government is like kicking a 300-pound sponge.

Finagle's Law Of Military Superiority: The bigger they are, the harder they hit.

Finagle's Rules: 1) To study an application best, understand it thoroughly before you start. 2) Always keep a record of data. It indicates you've been working. 3) Always draw your curves, then plot the reading. 4) In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.

Business one-liners 124

Business one-liners 124
Rhode's Corollary To Hoare's Law: Inside every complex and unworkable program is a useful routine struggling to be free.

Ross's Law: Bare feet magnetise sharp metal objects so they always point upwars from the floor-especially in the dark.

Rudin's Law: In a crisis that forces a choice to be made among alternative courses of action, people tend to choose the worst possible course.

Rudnicki's Nobel Prize Principle: Only someone who understands something absolutely can explain it so no one else can understand it.

Rule Of Accuracy: When working toward the solution of a problem it always helps you to know the answer.

Ryan's Law: Make three correct guesses consecutively and you will establish yourself as an expert.

Sattinger's Law: It works better if you plug it in.

Reasons to leave work

Reasons to leave work
1. Not spending enough quality time with the kitchen applicances.

2. Came dressed in only a towel...again.

3. Ran out of paper clips.

4. I've decided to telecommute.

5. Ambassador to Belgium is at the White House.

6. It's a long drive home to Texas.

7. One-day sale at Macy's.

8. My brain is melting!

9. I think they found me out...

10. Accidently erased the whole week's work off the computer disk.

Business one-liners 35

Business one-liners 35
The "think positive" leader tends to listen to his subordinate's premonitions only during the postmortems.

The amount of flak received on any subject is inversely proportional to the subject's true value.

The average man's judgement is so poor, he runs a risk every time he uses it.

The bag that breaks is the one with the eggs.

The best laid plans of mice and men are all filed away somewhere.

The best laid plans of mice and men are usually equal.

The best photos are generally attempted through the lens cap.

The best way to lie is to tell the truth, carefully edited truth.

The best way to make a fire with two sticks is to make sure one of them is a match.

The best way to realise your dreams is to wake up.

Business one-liners 67

Business one-liners 67
If opportunity came disguised as temptation, one knock would be enough.

If people listened to themselves more often, they would talk less.

If reproducibility might be a problem, conduct the test only once.

If some people didn't tell you, you'd never know they'd been away on vacation.

If something is confidential, it will be left in the photocopy machine.

If something is done wrong often enough, it becomes right.

If 'success' consisted simply of not taking chances, then 'glory' would be at the disposal of the most mediocre talent.

If the assumptions are wrong, the conclusions are not likely to be very good.

If the code and the comments disagree, then both are probably wrong.

If the probability of success is not almost one, it is very near zero.

Business one-liners 04

Business one-liners 04
A good scapegoat is hard to find.

A good slogan can stop analysis for fifty years.

A good solution can be successfully applied to almost any problem.

A lack of leadership is no substitute for inaction.

A little ambiguity never hurt anyone.

A little humility is arrogance.

A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation.

A little ignorance can go a long way.

A man of quality does not fear a woman seeking equality.

A man should be greater than some of his parts.