Murphy's law

Murphy's law is a popular adage that states that "things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance," or more commonly, "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." A number of variants on the rule have been formulated, as have several corollaries.

[Murphy's SECOND law] states that "any solution can create its own problems"; this is obvious as the solution is subject to the first law.

Quotes

 * If there is a wrong way to do something, then someone will do it.
 * Version attributed to Edward A. Murphy in "Murphy Lives!" by Robert L. Forward, in Science 83 (January-February 1983), p. 78


 * If there's more than one way to do a job and one of those ways will end in disaster, then somebody will do it that way.
 * Version attributed to Edward A. Murphy in People Magazine (31 January 1983), p. 82


 * If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way.
 * According to Robert Murphy (son of Edward A. Murphy, Jr.) his father's statement was along these lines; reported in People (31 January 1983), p. 82; alternately reported as "If there is a wrong way to do something, then someone will do it", in "Murphy Lives!" by Robert L. Forward, Science 83 (January-February 1983), p. 78; also commonly reported as, "If anything can go wrong, it will", in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (1982) edited by J. A. Simpson, p. 4.


 * Anything That Can Possibly Go Wrong, Does
 * Epigraph of The Butcher: The Ascent of Yerupaja (1952) by John Sack


 * Colonel Stapp's favorite takeoff on sober scientific laws — Murphy's Law, Stapp calls it — 'Everything that can possibly go wrong will go wrong' 
 * Lloyd Mallan, in Men, Rockets and Space Rats (1955), possibly the earliest printed use of Murphy's name in connection with the law.


 * Murphy's Quantum Law: Anything that can, could have, or will go wrong, is going wrong, all at once.
 * Paul Dickson, in The Official Rules (1982) ISBN 0099264900


 * With diligent effort he has established that there is no statistical basis for Murphy’s Law. He has also established that he believes in it anyway.
 * John Barnes, Mother of Storms (1994) p. 511 (from the first mass market paperback edition published by Tor Books (May 1995) ISBN 0-812-53345-3)