Quotes from Carlo M. Cipolla

A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

No matter how high are one's estimates of human stupidity, one is repeatedly and recurrently startled by the fact that: a) people whom one had once judged rational and intelligent turn out to be unashamedly stupid. b) day after day, with unceasing monotony, one is harassed in one's activities by stupid individuals who appear suddenly and unexpectedly in the most inconvenient places and at the most improbable moments.

The Second law of human stupidity: The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person

Third basic law of human stupidity: A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring loss.

Essentially stupid people are dangerous and damaging because reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand unreasonable behaviour.

A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Perdida ya toda esperanza de alcanzar una vida mejor en este mundo, la gente fue depositando cada vez más sus esperanzas en la vida del más allá, y la idea de obtener recompensas en el cielo la ayudó a soportar la falta de pimienta en esta tierra.

La Prima Legge Fondamentale della stupidità umana asserisce senza ambiguità di sorta che: Sempre ed inevitabilmente ognuno di noi sottovaluta il numero di individui stupidi in circolazione.

Pur non potendo fornire cifre precise al riguardo, possiamo affermare che nel 1347 c'erano in Europa occidentale molti più ratti e più pulci di quanto comunemente si crede.

Their failure is just another expression of their helplessness

reasonable people have difficulty conceiving and understanding unreasonable behavior.

Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

Olen tutkinut asiaa useamman vuoden, ja havaintojeni perusteella uskon vakaasti, että ihmiset eivät ole tasa-arvoisia, jotkut ovat typeryksiä ja toiset eivät ja että sen määrää luonto eivätkä kulttuuriset tekijät.

Jotkut saavat perimässä poikkeuksellisen paljon typeryysgeenejä ja kuuluvat näin ollen syntymästään lähtien typerysten eliittiin.

Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.'fn1

A Primeira Lei Fundamental da Estupidez Humana afirma, sem ambiguidade, que «inevitavelmente, toda a gente subestima sempre o número de indivíduos estúpidos em circulação.»

L'umorismo va distinto dall'ironia. ?ando si fa dell'ironia si ride degli altri. ?ando si fa dell'umorismo si ride con gli altri. L'ironia ingenera tensioni e confli?i. L'umorismo quando usato nella misura giusta e nel momento giusto (e se non è usato nella misura giusta e nel momento giusto non è umorismo) è il solvente per eccellenza per sgonfiare tensioni, risolvere situazioni altrimenti penose, facilitare rapporti e relazioni umane.

Within a democratic system, general elections are a most effective instrument to insure the steady maintenance of fraction ? among the powerful. One has to keep in mind that according to the Second Basic Law, the fraction ? of the voting population are stupid people and elections offer to all of them at once a magnificent opportunity to harm everybody else without gaining anything from their action. They do so by contributing to the maintenance of the ? level among those in power.

Most people do not act consistently. Under certain circumstances a given person acts intelligently and under different circumstances the same person will act helplessly. The only important exception to the rule is represented by the stupid people, who normally show a strong proclivity toward perfect consistency in all fields of human endeavors.

The perfect bandit is one who, with his actions, causes to other individuals losses equal to his gains. The crudest type of banditry is theft. A person who robs you of 100 dollars without causing you an extra loss or harm is a perfect bandit: you lose 100 dollars, he gains 100 pounds.

The society as a whole is neither better nor worse off. If

Stabilire il numero delle donnine allegre è un'impresa disperata. Anzitutto la categoria si presta male a una precisa definizione perché tra i due estremi di «donna onesta» e «prostituta pubblica» esiste tutta una vasta gamma di condizione intermedie dai contorni confusi.

He consequently long declined any proposal to have it translated.