Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Attributing bad outcomes to malice ignores the more common cause of incompetence.
- In plain terms
- Assume mistakes happen before assuming evil intent.
- What can you take from it?
- Choose incompetence over malice as the default explanation.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When is it safe to assume incompetence?
- How do you prove malicious intent?
Another view
Malice does exist and should not be ignored entirely.
More from Napoleon Bonaparte
A constitution should be short and obscure.
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