Robert J. Hanlon

fl. 1980 · American computer programmer, Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pennsylvania

Robert J. Hanlon was a computer programmer at the Tobyhanna Army Depot near Scranton, Pennsylvania. According to Quote Investigator, he submitted his aphorism for inclusion in a sequel to Arthur Bloch’s Murphy’s Law, and it was printed in the 1980 collection Murphy’s Law Book Two as “Hanlon’s Razor.” The name was coined by analogy to Occam’s Razor, and the line has since been widely — and wrongly — reassigned to grander names, Napoleon chief among them.

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1 quote we’ve traced

“Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”

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