If Anything Can Go Wrong, Fix It! (To Hell With Murphy!)

Quotation: If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!)

Creator: Peter H. Diamandis, founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation; bestselling author; cofounder of Singularity University

Context: In 2015 Diamandis published “Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World”. He described an episode that occurred shortly after he founded and began working at the International Space University. He shared an office with a colleague who placed a copy of Murphy’s Law on the wall which stated: “If anything can go wrong, it will”. Diamandis greatly disliked the sign. Boldface has been added to this excerpt:^[1] 2015, Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler, Quote Page 108, Simon & Schuster, New York. (Google Books Preview)

There’s an old saying in business: You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. The same is true for ideas. . . Thus, a week into Murphy’s mental assault, I went to the whiteboard behind my desk and wrote: “If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!)” Then above the quote I wrote, “Peter’s Law.”