“For many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.”
Vilfredo Pareto
This quote, or similarly worded versions, is often attributed to Pareto. However, the attribution is almost certainly incorrect. Pareto’s original work, published in his Cours d'économie politique (1896-97), was focused on the distribution of wealth and land ownership across several countries. He never framed his findings as a general principle applying to all causes and effects. That generalization was made decades later by Joseph Juran, an American management theorist, who in the 1940s applied Pareto’s empirical pattern to quality control and other domains, coining the term “Pareto principle” in his honour. Since Pareto himself never conceived of his observation in such broad terms, it is safe to assume he never said or wrote anything resembling this quote.
This quote is commonly attributed to Vilfredo Pareto, but I have not been able to locate a primary source. Use with caution in academic or professional contexts.
”History is a graveyard of aristocracies.”
— Vilfredo Pareto Primary source“Men follow their sentiments and their self-interest, but it pleases them to imagine that they follow reason. And so they look for, and always find, some theory which, a posteriori, makes their actions appear to be logical. If that theory could be demolished scientifically, the only result would be that another theory would be substituted for the first one, and for the same purpose.”
— Vilfredo Pareto Primary source“The history of man is the history of the continuous replacement of certain elites: as one ascends, another declines.”
— Vilfredo Pareto Primary source“The new elite which seeks to supersede the old one, or merely to share its power and honors, does not admit to such an intention frankly and openly.”
— Vilfredo Pareto Primary sourceMore quotes by Vilfredo Pareto →
“Nature is full of infinite causes that have never occured in experience.”
— Leonardo da Vinci Primary source“There is always room for a man of force, and he makes room for many.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“I may not be as strong as I think. But I know many tricks and I have resolution.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“It is better to take many injuries, than to give one.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source