C. Northcote Parkinson Quotes

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

C. Northcote Parkinson

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Quotes to Explore

• When I was little, one of my father's friends owned a circus. For four absolutely incredible summers, I found myself being the only boy in Ireland who didn't dream of running away with the circus. I was in it!

  

  Ian Beattie
  • Friends
  • Father
  • Dream

• I'm not a fan of 'Gone With the Wind.' I didn't like the movie. I didn't like the book.

  

  Octavia Spencer
  • Book
  • Movie
  • Like

• No one would feel embarrassed about seeking help for a child if they broke their arm - and we really should be equally ready to support a child coping with emotional difficulties.

  

  Kate Middleton
  • Help
  • Support
  • Emotional

• I became fascinated by marionettes, which I first saw in Venice. They were so haunted and so alive. You walked by them, and you could feel their presence, with their beady eyes just fixed on you.

  

  Laura Amy Schlitz
  • Eyes
  • Presence
  • Venice

• I've written many extra verses to songs that I learned to sing - an extra verse about a friend, or just add some verse - and that led to writing my own songs.

  

  Jackson Browne
  • Writing
  • Friend
  • Add

• The TiVo is really an amazing machine. Like everyone who has one, I totally recommend it. Just as everyone who's married will tell you to get married, and everyone who has a baby tells you to have a baby, everyone who owns a TiVo will tell you to get a TiVo, and they'll say things like 'Your life will be completely different.' It's true.

  

  Ira Glass
  • Life
  • Different
  • True

• I've done some really off-the-wall stuff and stuff that people might not expect. That's one way to work through people's expectations of you.

  

  Haley Joel Osment
  • People
  • Work
  • Done

• Be obscure clearly.

  

  E. B. White
  • Funny
  • Obscure
  • Clearly

• The fact is that since you're a divine creation who originated in the world of Spirit, you have exactly the right amount of smarts to accomplish all that you need and want to do while you're here on earth. It's all perfect... and so are you!

  

  Wayne Dyer
  • World
  • Want
  • Earth

• Fear is the passion of slaves.

  

  Patrick Henry
  • Fear
  • Passion
  • Slaves

• When I did 'Alien: Resurrection', a lot of the guys worked on planned production, and one of them was really into comic books and would draw all sorts of characters, and I was impressed with his sketches.

  

  Gary Dourdan
  • Books
  • Alien
  • Resurrection

• Even though my songs may sound very personal, to me most of them are fiction. It is a great way for me to be able to live a fantasy life as a writer because I get to be someone else, someplace else for three and a half minutes, just like the listener.

  

  Nanci Griffith
  • Life
  • Great
  • Live

• I'm not anti-fashion, but I've always had a bit of a punk attitude. That's important, I think. I do my own thing.

  

  Sade Adu
  • Important
  • Think
  • Fashion

• I don't feel I made any sacrifices at all. I'm doing my best to juggle.

  

  Aaliyah
  • Best
  • Feel
  • Doing

• I'm just totally into being strong. There's something about wanting to get a jar or whatever out of a high cupboard, or moving a sofa over because my dog's bone rolled under it, and not having to call anyone for help. There's comfort in that.

  

  Maggie Q
  • Help
  • High
  • Strong

• Fatigue is what we experience, but it is what a match is to an atomic bomb.

  

  Laura Hillenbrand
  • Experience
  • Atomic Bomb

• It's no secret that I'm called to a different place, maybe, for some of the beliefs in the LGBTQ community because of my faith. With that said, I'm also called to be accepting and compassionate.

  

  Karen Handel
  • Different
  • Faith
  • Community

• I spend hours playing chess because I find it so much fun. The day it stops being fun is the day I give up.

  

  Magnus Carlsen
  • Up
  • Fun
  • Day

• I still miss the days when a haircut was just a haircut. It was only your mates you had to face. Now there's a whole industry centred around people analysing your 'look'. I just cannot understand how anyone could get so worked up by... hair.

  

  Alexander David Turner Arctic Monkeys
  • People
  • Hair
  • Missing

• The happiest time of my life is now.

  

  Marilyn Monroe
  • Life
  • Happy

• Publishers vet books, and they do a good job keeping out the low quality. But they also miss some good quality.

  

  J. A. Konrath
  • Good
  • Job
  • Quality

• Ultimately, I've learned to pride myself on being quirky. I very much adore people who are outcasts, and I've always loved to be around interesting, circus-type people.

  

  Karen Elson
  • People
  • Interesting
  • Myself

• In proportion as the people are accustomed to manage their affairs by their own active intervention, instead of leaving them to the government, their desires will turn to repelling tyranny, rather than to tyrannizing: while in proportion as all ready initiative and direction resides in the government, and individuals habitually feel and act as under its perpetual tutelage, popular institutions develop in them not the desire of freedom, but an unmeasured appetite for place and power.

  

  John Stuart Mill
  • Power
  • Direction
  • Tyranny

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

  

  C. Northcote Parkinson
  • Point
  • Perfection
  • Planned