Murphy's Laws
General |
Technology |
Military |
Love |
Sex
General
1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.
2. Everything takes longer than you think.
3. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
4. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the
one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
Corollary: If there is a worse time for something to go wrong,
it will happen then.
5. If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
6. If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which
a procedure can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way,
unprepared for, will promptly
develop.
7. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
8.If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked
something.
9. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
10. Mother nature is a bitch.
11.It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so
ingenious.
12. Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done
first.
13. Every solution breeds new problems.
Murphy's Law of Research
Enough research will tend to support your theory.
Murphy's Law of Copiers
The legibility of a copy is inversely proportional to its importance.
Murphy's Law of the Open Road
When there is a very long road upon which there is a one-way bridge
placed at random, and there are only two cars on that road, it follows
that:
(1) The two cars are going in opposite directions, and
(2) they will always meet at the bridge.
Murphy's Law of Thermodynamics
Things get worse under pressure.
The Murphy Philosophy
Smile . . . tomorrow will be worse.
Quantization Revision of Murphy's Laws
Everything goes wrong all at once.
Murphy's Constant
Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value
Murphy's Corollaries
1. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
2. It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so
ingenious
3. Law of the Perversity of Nature (Mrs. Murphy's Corollary):
You cannot successfully determine beforehand which side of the bread to
butter.
4. Corollary (Jenning):
The chance of the bread falling with the buttered side down is directly
proportional to the cost of the carpet.
Commentaries
Hill's Commentaries on Murphy's Laws
1. If we lose much by having things go wrong, take all possible care.
2. If we have nothing to lose by change, relax.
3. If we have everything to gain by change, relax.
4. If it doesn't matter, it does not matter.
O'Toole's Commentary
1. Murphy was an optimist.
NBC's Addendum to Murphy's Law
1. You never run out of things that can go wrong.
Murphy's Technology Laws
1. You can never tell which way the train went by looking at the track.
2. Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with
confidence.
3. Whenever a system becomes completely defined, some damn fool
discovers something which either abolishes the system or expands it
beyond recognition.
4. Technology is dominated by those who manage what they do not
understand.
5. If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then
the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.
6. The opulence of the front office decor varies inversely with the
fundamental solvency of the firm.
7. The attention span of a computer is only as long as it electrical
cord.
8. An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until
he knows absolutely everything about nothing.
9. Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he'll
believe you.
Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he'll have to touch to be sure.
10. All great discoveries are made by mistake.
11. Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.
12. Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget.
13. All's well that ends.
14. A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and the hours
are lost.
15. The first myth of management is that it exists.
16. A failure will not appear till a unit has passed final inspection.
17. New systems generate new problems.
18. To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.
19. We don't know one millionth of one percent about anything.
20. Any given program, when running, is obsolete.
21. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from
magic.
22. A computer makes as many mistakes in two seconds as 20 men working
20 years make.
23. Nothing motivates a man more than to see his boss putting in an
honest day's work.
24. Some people manage by the book, even though they don't know who
wrote the book or even what book.
25. The primary function of the design engineer is to make things
difficult for the fabricator and impossible for the serviceman.
26. To spot the expert, pick the one who predicts the job will take the
longest and cost the most.
27. After all is said and done, a hell of a lot more is said than done.
28. Any circuit design must contain at least one part which is
obsolete, two parts which are unobtainable and three parts which are
still under development.
29. A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved
from a simple system that works.
30. If mathematically you end up with the incorrect answer, try
multiplying by the page number.
31. Computers are unreliable, but humans are even more unreliable.
Any system which depends on human reliability is unreliable.
32. Give all orders verbally. Never write anything down that might go
into a "Pearl Harbor File."
33. Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure,
temperature, volume, humidity, and other variables the organism will do
as it damn well pleases.
34. If you can't understand it, it is intuitively obvious.
35. The more cordial the buyer's secretary, the greater the odds that
the competition already has the order.
36. In designing any type of construction, no overall dimension can be
totalled correctly after 4:30 p.m. on Friday. The correct total will
become self-evident at 8:15 a.m. on Monday.
37. Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches.
38. All things are possible except skiing through a revolving door.
39. The only perfect science is hind-sight.
40. Work smarder and not harder and be careful of yor speling.
41. If it's not in the computer, it doesn't exist.
42. If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
43. When all else fails, read the instructions.
44. If there is a possibility of several things going wrong the one
that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.
45. Everything that goes up must come down.
46. Any instrument when dropped will roll into the least accessible
corner.
47. Any simple theory will be worded in the most complicated way.
48. Build a system that even a fool can use and only a fool will want
to use it.
49. The degree of technical competence is inversely proportional to the
level of management.
Murphy's Military Laws
1. Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you are.
2. No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.
3. Friendly fire ain't.
4. The most dangerous thing in the combat zone is an officer with a map.
5. The problem with taking the easy way out is that the enemy has
already mined it.
6. The buddy system is essential to your survival; it gives the enemy
somebody else to shoot at.
7. The further you are in advance of your own positions, the more
likely your artillery will shoot short.
8. Incoming fire has the right of way.
9. If your advance is going well, you are walking into an ambush.
10. The quartermaster has only two sizes, too large and too small.
11. If you really need an officer in a hurry, take a nap.
12. The only time suppressive fire works is when it is used on
abandoned positions.
13. The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming
friendly fire.
14. There is nothing more satisfying that having someone take a shot at
you, and miss.
15. Don't be conspicuous. In the combat zone, it draws fire. Out of the
combat zone, it draws sergeants.
16. If your sergeant can see you, so can the enemy.
17. Remember that your weapon was supplied by the lowest bidder.
Murphy's Love Laws
1. All the good ones are taken.
2. If the person isn't taken, there's a reason. (corr. to 1)
3. The nicer someone is, the farther away (s)he is from you.
4. Brains x Beauty x Availability = Constant.
5. The amount of love someone feels for you is inversely proportional
to how much you love them.
6. Money can't buy love, but it sure gets you a great bargaining
position.
7. The best things in the world are free --- and worth every penny of
it.
8. Every kind action has a not-so-kind reaction.
9. Nice guys(girls) finish last.
10. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
11. Availability is a function of time. The minute you get interested
is the minute they find someone else.
Murphy's Laws of Sex
1. The more beautiful the woman is who loves you, the easier it is to
leave her with no hard feelings.
2. Nothing improves with age.
3. No matter how many times you've had it, if it's offered take it,
because it'll never be quite the same again.
4. Sex has no calories.
5. Sex takes up the least amount of time and causes the most amount of
trouble.
6. There is no remedy for sex but more sex.
7. Sex appeal is 50% what you've got and 50% what people think you've
got.
8. No sex with anyone in the same office.
9. Sex is like snow; you never know how many inches you are going to
get or how long it is going to last.
10. A man in the house is worth two in the street.
11. If you get them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.
12. Virginity can be cured.
13. When a man's wife learns to understand him, she usually stops
listening to him.
14. Never sleep with anyone crazier than yourself.
15. The qualities that most attract a woman to a man are usually the
same ones she can't stand years later.
16. Sex is dirty only if it's done right.
17. It is always the wrong time of month.
18. The best way to hold a man is in your arms.
19. When the lights are out, all women are beautiful.
20. Sex is hereditary. If your parents never had it, chances are you
won't either.
21. Sow your wild oats on Saturday night -- Then on Sunday pray for
crop failure.
22. The younger the better.
23. The game of love is never called off on account of darkness.
24. It was not the apple on the tree but the pair on the ground that
caused the trouble in the garden.
25. Sex discriminates against the shy and the ugly.
26. Before you find your handsome prince, you've got to kiss a lot of
frogs.
27. There may be some things better than sex, and some things worse
than sex. But there is nothing exactly like it.
28. Love your neighbor, but don't get caught.
29. Love is a hole in the heart.
30. If the effort that went in research on the female bosom had gone
into our space program, we would now be runnin hot-dog stands on the
moon.
31. Love is a matter of chemistry, sex is a matter of physics.
32. Do it only with the best.
33. Sex is a three-letter word which needs some old-fashioned
four-letter words to convey its full meaning.
34. One good turn gets most of the blankets.
35. You cannot produce a baby in one month by impregnating nine women.
36. Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
37. It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
38. Thou shalt not commit adultery.....unless in the mood.
39. Never lie down with a woman who's got more troubles than you.
40. Abstain from wine, women, and song; mostly song.
41. Never argue with a women when she's tired -- or rested.
42. A woman never forgets the men she could have had; a man, the women
he couldn't.
43. What matters is not the length of the wand, but the magic in the
stick.
44. It is better to be looked over than overlooked.
45. Never say no.
46. A man can be happy with any woman as long as he doesn't love her.
47. Folks playing leapfrog must complete all jumps.
48. Beauty is skin deep; ugly goes right to the bone.
49. Never stand between a fire hydrant and a dog.
50. A man is only a man, but a good bicycle is a ride.
51. Love comes in spurts.
52. The world does not revolve on an axis.
53. Sex is one of the nine reasons for reincarnation; the other eight
are unimportant.
54. Smile, it makes people wonder what you are thinking.
55. Don't do it if you can't keep it up.
56. There is no difference between a wise man and a fool when they fall
in love.
57. Never go to bed mad, stay up and fight.
58. Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.
59. "This won't hurt, I promise."