Joshua Cohen Quotes

I pass my days in a state of exasperation. First, with the fools who do not want any of the things that ought to be done, and second, with the equally obnoxious fools who insist upon so much that they cannot get anything done.

I'm sure it's very obvious . . . how upset I am with incompetence and the lack of common sense in life. If I can sum up the reason . . . it's that these characteristics are not benign. They are responsible for much, if not most, of the great problems, misery, and injustice in the world.

Disorganization can scarcely fail to result in efficiency.

[Describing the United Nations:] ... a beehive without honey ... a chaotic and sterile maelstrom

[Describing the White House:] ... temple of inconvenience.

The incompetent with nothing to do can still make a mess of it.

We never left a set until we'd trashed it.

Because of the accumulation of objects, things are never quite the way I want them to be. There has always been a lack of, well, clarity.

I'm too disorganized.

You can't fix stupid.

The bureaucracy is what we all suffer from..

... an impossible organization to administer ... just an amorphous lump.

We’re not very good at cutting things. We’re not even good at reducing things.

Getting the U. S. Government to do anything is like herding ducks with a broom.

Abstract anger is great for rhetorical carrying on. You can go on endlessly about the post office, but it doesn't mean you're mad at your mailman.

I'm slow at everything I do.

I haven't got enough sense not to pitch.

Incompetence is a better explanation than conspiracy in most human activity.

I'm a mess. My house is full of records, and my computer... I can't find the things that I want. But it usually seems to work out.

I don't know how to plan my way out of a paper bag.

I hate a mess.

I thought I was going to go into politics, but that became disheartening. You see that a lot of stuff doesn't get done, people walk around all self-important, and it's just depressing.

It's frustrating when you're not getting the job done.

I'm the kind of person who will set time aside to do something and then do everything but that thing.

Government screws up.