[CED/CD/EAT] An interesting quote

[Silvertooth, Jeffrey C - (silverto)]

"We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization."

~ Gaius Petronius Arbiter (c.27-66 AD) Roman Satirist

Falsely attributed to Gaius Petronius Arbiter. Quote is from Charlton Ogburn, Jr. (1911-1998), in Harper's Magazine, "Merrill's Marauders: The truth about an incredible adventure" (Jan 1957)

FROM http://libertytree.ca/quotes/Gaius.Petronius.Arbiter.Quote.7108:

This is a great sentiment... but it is not really by Petronious. But its false attribution is key to the depth of its satire. That it has since been quoted by scholars as genuine has only added to its power as an epithet of inefficiency. The best research can find no reference to it prior to the immediate post WW2 period. It is reputed to have been found as a barrack room noticeboard comment in a British Army base in Occupied West Germany. No doubt a Classical Scholar Conscript who found himself compelled to anonymously criticise the inefficiencies of army management. P.S. The Roman Petronius died at his own hand on the orders of Nero in 66AD (CE for the politically correct). - Some quotes of this have him as a General or Admiral, Roman or Greek. He was Rome's great Satirist.


Jeffrey C. Silvertooth, Ph.D.
Associate Dean
Director of Extension and Economic Development
Division of Agriculture, Life, & Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension
Forbes 301
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona          85721-0036
520-621-7205

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