Murphy's laws

[Donkey]

I present to you Murphy's laws, beloved of engineers, supported by the laws of physics.
Learn them, love them, live by them.
----------------------------------------------------------------

If anything can go wrong, it will
Corollary: It can

If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong
Extreme version:
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the FIRST to go wrong

If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway

If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop
Corollary: It will be impossible to fix the fifth fault, without breaking the fix on one or more of the others

Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something

Nature always sides with the hidden flaw
Corollary: The hidden flaw never stays hidden for long.

Mother nature is a bitch
Addendum: and not an obedient one at that

Murphy's Law of Thermodynamics:
Things get worse under pressure.

The Murphy Philosophy:
Smile . . . tomorrow will be worse.

Quantization Revision of Murphy's Laws:
Everything goes wrong all at once.

Murphy's Constant:
Matter will be damaged in direct proportion to its value

Murphy's Laws of Research:
Enough research will tend to support whatever theory.
Research supports a specific theory depending on the amount of funds dedicated to it.

Addition to Murphy's Laws:
In nature, nothing is ever right. Therefore, if everything is going right ... something is wrong.

[JBW]

Murphy's Law of Mechanical Engineering-

"Interchangeable parts won't....."

Murphy's law of Chemical Engineering -

"Under the most precisely controlled conditions of temperature, humidity, and pressure an experiment will proceed as it damn well pleases...."

Cowper's Theorem -

"Murphy was an optimist..."

[bud]

This Murphy guy must of come up with his "LAWS" after years of observing the American political system.

[woodburner]

Not only the US system, it works in the UK too. One of the forums I visit had a post which demonstrated how useful our representatives are

Then they could vote on repealing the second law (of thermodynamics)
clearly a misguided piece of legislation introduced by a previous and now discredited administration.
And yes, I did once meet an MP who wanted to do just this !
I explained that the laws of thermodynamics limited the efficiency of coal burning power plants to about 38%. The MP considered this to be outrageous and wanted to know who passed such a daft law.