Citations:Hanlon's razor

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

						1980 1988 1991	2003 2017
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• 1980 October, G. Gordon Liddy, quotee, “Playboy Interview: G. Gordon Liddy”, in Playboy‎^[1], volume 27, number 10, Chicago, →ISSN, page 211:

  McCord may have bungled the taping of the internal doors, all right, but remember Hanlon's Razor, which is a maxim that states: "Never blame on malice that which can be fully explained by stupidity."

• 1980, Arthur Bloch, Murphy's Law, Book Two: More reasons why things go wrong!, Los Angeles: Price/Stern/Sloan, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 52:

  HANLON'S RAZOR: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

• 1988, Lynne A. Kuczynski, Pure-bred Dogs, American Kennel Gazette‎^[2], volume 105, American Kennel Club, page 165:

  Whenever you're tempted to feel that other exhibitors are out to get you, remember Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

• 1991, Minutes of the Meeting - Association of Research Libraries, Volumes 118-120, Association of Research Libraries, page 26:

  In planning, also we use Hanlon's Razor, which is: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

• 2003 December 29, Eric Raymond, “Jargon File 4.4.7”, in Eric S. Raymond's Home Page‎^[3]:

  Hanlon's Razor: prov. A corollary of Finagle's Law, similar to Occam's Razor, that reads "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

• 2017 September 30, Nate Silver, “The Media Needs To Stop Rationalizing President Trump's Behavior”, in FiveThirtyEight‎^[4]:

  But at many other times, journalists come up with overly convoluted explanations for Trump's behavior ("this seemingly self-destructive emotional outburst is actually a clever political strategy!") when simpler ones will suffice ("this is a self-destructive emotional outburst."). In doing so, they violate both Ockham's razor and Hanlon's razor — the latter of which can be stated as "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."