Unintended Consequences Quotes

• Probably the most visible example of unintended consequences, is what happens every time humans try to change the natural ecology of a place.

  Margaret J. Wheatley

  Change, Trying, Example

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• The law of unintended consequences is the only real law of history.

  Niall Ferguson

  Real, Law, History

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• There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything.

  Steve Jobs

  Consequence

  "Biography / Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.

  Margaret J. Wheatley

  Reflection, Creating, Way

  Margaret J. Wheatley (2010). “Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time (Large Print 16pt)”, p.262, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Every government intervention [in the marketplace] creates unintended consequences, which lead to calls for further government interventions.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Government, Marketplace, Intervention

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• All history is the history of unintended consequences.

  T. J. Jackson Lears

  Consequence

  "The Confidence Economy". Interview with B. R. Cohen, www.publicbooks.org. May 7, 2013.

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• The trouble with anger is, it gets hold of you. And then you aren't the master of yourself anymore. Anger is. And when anger is the boss, you get unintended consequences.

  Jeanne DuPrau

  Anger, Boss, Trouble

  Jeanne DuPrau (2012). “The Books of Ember Omnibus”, p.56, Random House Books for Young Readers

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• Unintended consequences get to the heart of why you never really understand an adaptive problem until you have solved it. Problems morph and "solutions" often point to deeper problems. In social life, as in nature, we are walking on a trampoline. Every inroad reconfigures the environment we tread on.

  Richard Pascale

  Learning, Heart, Knowledge

  Richard T. Pascale, Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin (2010). “The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems”, p.192, Harvard Business Press

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• He is led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention

  Adam Smith

  Ignorance, Invisible Hand, Hands

  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations vol. 2, bk. 4, ch. 2 (1776) See Adam Smith 1

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• The greatest thing that science teaches you is the law of unintended consequences.

  Ann Druyan

  Law, Teach, Consequence

  "Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson & Ann Druyan interview: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey". Interview with Louisa Mellor, www.denofgeek.com. March 14, 2014.

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• If there is one lesson for U.S. foreign policy from the past 10 years, it is surely that military intervention can seem simple but is in fact a complex affair with the potential for unintended consequences.

  Fareed Zakaria

  Military, Past, Simple

  "The Libyan Conundrum". content.time.com. March 10, 2011.

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• Half a century ago, the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl wrote that happiness cannot be attained by wanting to be happy - it must come as the unintended consequence of working for a goal greater than oneself.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Happiness, Business, Goal

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.48, Penguin

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• It is...highly probable that from the very beginning, apart from death, the only ironclad rule of human experience has been the Law of Unintended Consequences.

  Ian Tattersall

  Law, Human Experience, Ironclads

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• I think it's brought the world a lot closer together, and will continue to do that. There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most corrosive piece of technology that I've ever seen is called television - but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent.

  Steve Jobs

  Technology, Thinking, Together

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• Clearly there are always unintended consequences of any legislative or regulatory act that's taken in the heat of battle.

  Richard Grasso

  Taken, Battle, Heat

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• Without reflection, we go blindly on our way.

  Margaret J. Wheatley

  Reflection, Way, Reflecting

  Margaret J. Wheatley (2010). “Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time (Large Print 16pt)”, p.262, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• Even limited military actions end up carrying with them great costs and unintended consequences.

  Barack Obama

  Military, Cost, Action

  Interview with Steve Inskeep, www.npr.org. August 10, 2015.

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• Good intentions can often lead to unintended consequences. It is hard to imagine a law intended for the workforce known to Henry Ford can serve the needs of a workplace shaped by the innovations of Bill Gates.

  Tim Walberg

  Law, Innovation, Needs

  "Walberg Statement: Hearing on "The Fair Labor Standards Act: Is It Meeting the Needs of the Twenty-First Century Economy?" As prepared for delivery". Committee Statements, edworkforce.house.gov. July 14, 2011.

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• I'm just worried about the unintended consequences of the laws.

  Mary Katharine Ham

  Law, Worried, Consequence

  Source: www.foxnews.com

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• Politics is tricky; it cuts both ways. Every time you make a choice, it has unintended consequences.

  Stone Gossard

  Cutting, Choices, Way

  "From Ticketmaster To Trees". Interview with Scott Thill, www.wired.com. October 17, 2008.

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• The term blowback, which officials of the Central Intelligent Agency first invented for their own internal use, . . . refers to the unintended consequences of policies that were kept secret from the American people. What the daily press reports as the malign act of terrorists or drug lords or rogue states or illegal arms merchants often turn out to be blowback from earlier American operations.

  Chalmers Johnson

  Intelligent, Agency, People

  Chalmers Johnson (2001). “Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire”, p.23, Macmillan

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• It's not in the mainstream media yet, but the biggest jump in skin cancer has occurred since the advent of sunscreens. That kind of thing makes me happy. The fact that people, in pursuit of a superficial look of health, give themselves a fatal disease. I love it when 'reasoning' human beings think they have figured out how to beat something and it comes right back and kicks them in the nuts. God bless the law of unintended consequences. And the irony is impressive: Healthy people, trying to look healthier, make themselves sick. Good!

  George Carlin

  Cancer, Thinking, Media

  George Carlin (1998). “Brain Droppings”, Hyperion

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• Globalization is not a monolithic force but an evolving set of consequences - some good, some bad and some unintended. It is the new reality.

  John B. Larson

  Reality, Globalization, Force

  "Globalization: A Rendezvous with Reality" by John B. Larson, www.huffingtonpost.com. October 31, 2007.

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• The law of unintended consequences pushes us ceaselessly through the years, permitting no pause for perspective.

  Richard Schickel

  Years, Law, Perspective

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• I hope I'm wrong, but I am afraid that Iraq is going to turn out to be the greatest disaster in American foreign policy - worse than Vietnam, not in the number who died, but in terms of its unintended consequences and its reverberation throughout the region.

  Madeleine Albright

  Iraq, Numbers, Vietnam

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