“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

— Robert J. Hanlon

Murphy's Law Book Two : More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong! (1980) ISBN 0843106743 by Arthur Bloch page 52.
This statement has often been referred to as Hanlon's Razor, though the author himself has remained relatively unknown, and some theories arose that "Hanlon" might have been a corruption of "Heinlein". Hanlon actually was a winner in a contest to come up with further statements similar to "Murphy's Law", for publication in this particular book. This phrase or very similar statements have also been attributed to William James, Napoleon Bonaparte, Richard Feynman (who might well have quoted it) and others.
Similar statements have been made by Goethe, and indeed, Robert Heinlein:
In The Sorrows of Young Werther Goethe declared, "Misunderstandings and neglect occasion more mischief in the world than even malice and wickedness. At all events, the two latter are of less frequent occurrence."
In his story Logic of Empire (1941) Heinlein declares: "You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity". He calls this the "devil theory" of sociology. His character Lazarus Long also voices a variation on the theme in the novel Time Enough for Love: "Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."
Variants of the phrase which have been variously attributed to this wide assortment of authors include:
Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.
Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." by Robert J. Hanlon?

Robert J. Hanlon 1

Related quotes

“Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

Often known as Hanlon's razor, this was attributed to Napoleon without source in Message Passing Server Internals (2003) by Bill Blunden, p. 15, ISBN 0071416382
Misattributed

“Never attribute to incompetence that which can be adequately explained by jet lag.”

Charles Stross The Laundry Files

Source: The Laundry Files, The Apocalypse Codex (2012), Chapter 7, “Communion” (p. 134)

“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi

The Bonhoeffer Reader https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Bonhoeffer_Reader/CNZgAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA766, p. 766
Letters and Papers from Prison (1967; 1997), On Stupidity

“At least two thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice, and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity, idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religious or political idols.”

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English writer

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (1952)
Source: Complete Essays 1, 1920-25

“Most police work boils down to minimizing the impact on society of stupidity; of the remainder, the overwhelming majority is about malice and deliberate evil, but it’s still almost all stupid.”

Charles Stross book Rule 34

Source: Rule 34 (2011), Chapter 31, “Dominoes Fall” (p. 322)

“Don't ascribe to evil what can be attributed to well-intentioned stupidity.”

James A. Owen book The Shadow Dragons

Source: The Shadow Dragons

“You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity.”

Robert A. Heinlein book The Green Hills of Earth

Logic of Empire (p. 335); this is one of the earliest known variants of an idea which has become known as Hanlon's razor.
Short fiction, The Past Through Tomorrow (1967)
Source: The Green Hills of Earth

“Mild success can be explainable by skills and labor. Wild success is attributable to variance.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb book Fooled by Randomness

Fooled by Randomness (2001)

“Malicious men may die, but malice never.”

Molière book Tartuffe

Source: Tartuffe

“The world attributes its misfortunes to the schemes and plottings of the very evil and powerful. I think stupidity is underestimated.”

Adolfo Bioy Casares (1914–1999) Argentine novelist

"El mundo atribuye sus infortunios a las conspiraciones y maquinaciones de grandes malvados. Entiendo que se subestima la estupidez."
Breve diccionario del argentino exquisito, 1978.

“Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Robert J. Hanlon 1

Related quotes

Related topics